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Sustainability . :
Beaverton grant supports amenities
T he U.S. D epartm ent o f H ousing and U rban D evelopm ent
has aw ard ed the city o f B eaverton a $ 1 m illion S ustainable
C o m m u n ities C hallenge G rant.
T he m onies w ill accelerate sustainable developm ent and
support the im plem entation o f the B eaverton C reekside
D istrict M aster Plan, w hich integrates affordable housing
w ith efficient transp ortation, green infrastructure and public
am enities.
“ P artnerships like these are critical to creating the vibrant
d o w ntow n aspired to by B eaverton resid en ts,” said M ayor
D enny D oyle. “ W e ’ll now have the capacity to m ove our
plans to p ro jects.”
T he C ity will use its Sustainable C om m unities C hallenge
G rant to im plem ent a num ber o f strategies identified in the
C ivic Plan, adopted by C ity C ouncil in A pril 2011.
To Place Your Classified Advertisement
Contact:
Phone: 503-288-0033
Fax: 503-288-0015
e-mail: classifieds@portlandobserver.com
One of the Portland area's favorite holiday attractions is even greener this year. The Oregon Zoo's
winter ZooLights display features 1.35 million lights, and 900,000 are now energy-efficient LEDs.
Holiday Lights go Green with LEDs
G erding Theater at the A rm o ry
503.445.3700
128 N W Eleventh Avenue
p cs.o rg
ZooLights festival offers fudge to recycle old lights
If y o u ’ve been thinking o f
switching out your old holiday lights
for some energy-saving LEDs, the
Oregon Zoo has a sweet offer for
you: free fudge.
Throughout the run o f its w in
ter ZooLights festival, the zoo
will be collecting old holiday light
strings for recycling. Visitors who
drop off their lights at the zoo by
Sunday, Jan. 1 will receive a cou
pon for a free piece of fudge cour
tesy of the Zoo Store. All col
lected lights will be recycled into
their com ponent parts.
“LED string lights use a frac
tion of the pow er consum ed by
tra d itio n a l strin g lig h ts, but
th ey ’re ju st as beautiful,” said
Chris M assey, zoo facility opera
tions m anager. “A nyone who
wants to decorate for the holi
days can save on electric costs
and protect the environm ent by
sw itching to LEDs. It’s a win-win
situ atio n .”
ZooLights visitors who want to
take additional steps to conserve
natural resources are in luck: V ol
unteers are running educational
“EcoB ooths” at the zoo’s Family
Farm on Saturday and Sunday
nights. Kids and adults can par
ticipate in fun activities about
saving w ater, conserving energy,
and “greening” the holidays. All
participants will be entered to win
a behind-the-scenes tour at the
zo o ’s polar bear exhibit.
The zoo has been using LEDs
(lig h t-em ittin g d io d es) for its
ZooLights displays since 2000 and
continues to add m ore each year,
replacing its conventional bulbs.
This year, the zoo added around
100,000 more LEDs, m aking for a
total o f 900,000 LEDs out of the
1,350,000 lights. LEDs use only
about one percent o f the pow er of
standard holiday lights, and about
10 percent o f the power in m ini
lights.
“D uring the ZooLights season,
the zoo now consum es 80 percent
less pow er than it did before we
s ta rte d sw itc h in g to L E D s ,”
M assey said. “T h at’s an incred
ible difference.”
According to Massey, few visi
tors notice the change— LEDs give
off a slightly different glow than
standard holiday lights, but are just
as festive. Additionally, LEDs do
not fade and lose their color over
time. Since the diodes themselves
create the colors, rather than painted
bulbs, old LED strings remain as
bright and colorful as the day they
were purchased.
Sewer Overflows Project Completed
"Sparkles and glows
till« the holiday lights
}hts strung across the sat againsta winter shy."
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The City of Portland has com
pleted its 20-year program to con
trol combined sewer overflows to
the Willamette River and Columbia
Slough.
Completing the project reduces
the river discharges from an aver
age of 50 per year to an average of
four each winter and one every third
summer during very heavy rain
storms. The program reduced an
nual combined sewer overflow vol
ume to the Columbia Slough by 99
percent and to the Willamette River
by 94 percent.
P o rtlan d ’s com bined sew ers
carry stormwater runoff and sani
tary sewage in the same pipes. To
day, stream diversion, sewer sepa
ration, sump installation and down-
spout disconnection projects re
move an average of 2.2 billion gal
lons of sewage per year from the
combined sewer system, officials
said.
The East Side CSO Big Pipe
Project, the largest public works
project in Portland history, created
a six-mile long, 22-foot diameter tun
nel that was activated this fall.