Yesterday the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program released its signature report, The State of Metropolitan America. The study is a comprehensive examination of a range of data indicators on America’s 100 largest metro regions. According to the project’s website, the analysis “portrays the demographic and social trends shaping the nation’s essential economic and societal units—its large metropolitan areas—and discusses what they imply for public policies to secure prosperity for these places and their populations.”
To say that the report is data-rich is a massive understatement (if that’s not an oxymoron), and I don’t pretend to have digested all of it it. I did, however, take a quick look at the report’s commuting data (presented in interactive form here), and out of the 100 regions these are the best and worst performers:
Regions with the smallest shares of workers driving alone to work:
(National average share for 100 largest regions: 74.0%)
New York-Northern NJ-Long Island NY-NJ-PA 50.3%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA 62.4%
Honolulu HI 64.2%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV 66.3%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA 69.0%
There are no surprises among these good performers. These are regions with an abundance of walkable neighborhoods and a strong commitment to public transportation. I’m pleased to see the DC area on the list, though it’s a little frightening to consider that the reach of our metro area now includes part of West Virginia. Boston and Portland came in at numbers 6 and 7, respectively, on the list with the smallest shares.
Regions with the largest shares of workers driving alone to work:
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman OH-PA 85.1%
Wichita KS 84.6%
Akron OH 84.4%
Baton Rouge LA 84.1%
Knoxville TN 84.0%
I was a little surprised to see two older industrial regions among the metros with the highest shares of driving.
The next two categories reveal which regions improved or worsened the most during the last decade:
Regions whose share of workers driving alone to work decreased the most since 2000:
(National average change in share for 100 largest regions: -0.2%)
Austin-Round Rock TX -3.6%
Dayton OH -3.3%
Portland-S. Portland-Biddeford ME -3.2%
Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown NY -2.9%
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk CT -2.7%
Some of Austin’s improvement may be attributable to the light rail line (above left) that has become operational there since 2000. I don’t have a ready explanation for why the other improving regions placed as they did.
Regions whose share of workers driving alone to work increased the most since 2000:
New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner LA +5.3%
Modesto CA +3.3%
El Paso TX +3.2%
Las Vegas-Paradise NV +3.0%
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura CA +3.0%
Among the bad performers, New Orleans can be excused because of the Katrina tragedy. The other four are all Sun Belt regions where sprawl worsened during the decade. I believe the last year of data that Brookings accounted for was 2008, though, only a few months into the recession and suburban housing collapse that affected the Sun Belt particularly hard; I wonder how the data may have changed since then.
I think the share of workers driving alone is the most environmentally relevant of the mode-share statistics in the report. If three-quarters of us drive to work nationally, a reasonable goal of public policy might be to lower that share to two-thirds. Even more relevant environmentally might have been a measure that also took into account the average distance driven by commuters, since that might more closely track carbon emissions and also be a richer data point for metropolitan land use policy. After that, I think that the walking/bicycling share would be particularly revealing. We don’t have those from the Brookings data (this was not primarily a transportation study), but we do have information on public transit usage:
Regions with the highest rates of commuting by public transportation:
(National metro average: 7.0%)
New York-No. NJ-Long Island NY-NJ-PA 30.4%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA 14.4%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV 13.4%
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy MA-NH 11.7%
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet IL-IN-WI 11.3%
Those five are the only regions in the country scoring above 10%. I also wish that, for all the statistics but especially this one, we had a national median as well as a national average. The sheer number of transit commuters in the New York region is high enough to have an outsized influence on the national average. (Incidentally, a somewhat different accounting of commuting data from the Census for 60 metro regions does include national medians, as well as walking and bicycling shares.) In any case, 7% nationally is a very low rate; the median share is probably even lower.
Regions with the lowest rates of commuting by public transportation:
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville FL 0.3%
Lakeland-Winter Haven FL 0.4%
Knoxville TN 0.4%
Tulsa OK 0.4%
Greenville-Mauldin-Easley SC 0.4%
That’s just pathetic, particularly for Knoxville and Tulsa, which have sizable populations and should have well-functioning transit systems (which isn’t to say that they do, obviously). Knoxville is also a “winner” among the regions with the highest drive-alone shares.
Carpooling, by the way, is most popular in Bakersfield CA, Honolulu HI, Stockton CA, Cape Coral-Fort Myers FL, and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission TX, whose carpooling shares ranged from 17.1% to 14.2%, soundly beating the national metro average of 10.3%. Carpooling is least popular in the New York-Northern NJ-Long Island region, followed by Akron OH, Youngstown-Warren-Boardman OH-PA, Springfield MA, and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor OH; the shares ranged from 7.3 to 8.1%. It is a curious coincidence that carpooling is unpopular in both the New York-NJ region, whose drive-alone share is among the lowest, and in Akron, whose drive-alone share is among the highest.
All of the Brookings data, including several video explanations, may be accessed here. An interactive site that slices and dices not just commuting data but also information on population, race and ethnicity, immigration, age, households and families, educational attainment, work, and income and poverty, may be accessed here. It reflects all 100 regions in the study, not just the best and worst performers that I highlight in this post.
Move your cursor over the images for credit information.
Kaid Benfield writes (almost) daily about community, development, and the environment. For more posts, see his blog’s home page.
The Portland Transportation Bureau has recommended that a Nashville, Tenn., firm receive a contract to oversee the city’s six SmartPark garages.
Central Parking System won the recommendation to receive the garage management contract over four other companies, including Star Park, which had won the contract seven years ago over a group overseen by the Portland Business Alliance. City Center Parking, with garages, lots and buildings in Portland, also failed to win the bid.
The Portland City Council must still approve the contract. The city continues to negotiate the contract’s value with the Nashville company. Cheryl Kuck, a transportation spokeswoman, said the company earned the recommendation after scoring highest on a series of factors.
“It’s not over until it’s over,” said Roy Jay, who formed an alliance of two minority chambers of commerce to manage the garages for Star Park. “We had a very strong proposal, and at this point, it’s just a recommendation. We’re not at all discouraged because a final decision hasn’t been made.”
Jay also said his group hasn’t decided whether it will appeal the recommendation if the city council approves it.
Central Parking System operates garages for nearly 60 cities nationwide, including structures in Seattle and New York.
Roy Kaufmann, a spokesman for Mayor Sam Adams, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the proposal.
“Smart, efficient, and customer-focused parking is essential to the economic vitality of downtown Portland,” Adams said in a statement. “Central Parking System brings to the City of Portland innovations that will lead to reduced operating costs, enhanced customer service, and improved marketing of the garages to promote visitors to downtown Portland.”
The city’s six garages offer nearly 4,000 parking spaces.
Companies in the Oregon city don’t just talk about sustainability and renewable resources—they follow through. Employees wouldn’t have it any other way. By Michelle V. Rafter
n Portland, Oregon, your company isn’t really green unless you’ve got a bike cage in the parking structure, a compost bin in the lunchroom, fume-free paint on the walls, recycled glass on the lobby front desk, and nary a plastic water bottle, paper cup or soda machine in sight. Portland’s strict land-use laws, burgeoning renewable energy industry, mass transit system, bike culture, parks and clean water are only some of the reasons it has been voted “Greenest City in America” by Popular Science and “one of America’s top 10 cleanest cities” by Forbes.
The everyday practices of local businesses have helped the Rose City earn its green bragging rights.
But companies have ulterior motives. Despite the recession, Portland employers have to tout their green know-how if they want to attract the best possible job candidates, according to Lois Brooks, HR committee chairwoman of American Electronics Association’s Oregon chapter and HR director at WebTrends, a Web analytics and online marketing company.
”It helps your brand in the marketplace,” Brooks told several dozen chapter members attending a November 2008 seminar on going green. When it comes to green initiatives, employees need an advocate, and HR can fill the bill, Brooks says.
Tripwire Inc. is a good example of green practices some Portland companies are putting in place and of the input that workers have in the process.
In November, the 12-year-old online security company moved 170 employees into new headquarters in 33,000 square feet on two rebuilt floors of a downtown Portland high-rise. At the same time the company was pondering moving, employees had begun requesting that managers step up their commitment to sustainability.
It eventually fell to HR generalist Barbara Salegio to coordinate the move and spearhead a newly created employee sustainability committee. One of the committee’s functions: help decide which green upgrades to buy with $1.2 million the company received from its new landlord for tenant improvements.
With the committee’s input and management’s blessing, Salegio opted to use the money for such things as an open layout that lets natural light into 90 percent of the area; low-volatile organic compound paints to cut back on fumes released during application; upholstered furniture made from skins and frames that can be taken apart and recycled; and a cafeteria with reusable dishes and utensils, dishwasher, composting bins, a minimum of disposable paper products and no garbage disposal.
The vending machines there don’t offer plastic water bottles or canned drinks. The espresso machine has a paperless filter. A cage in the building’s parking lot holds up to 18 bikes.
Going green hasn’t been 100 percent easy.
Tripwire chose not to apply for certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System because the additional expense wasn’t in the budget.
Despite Salegio’s best efforts, paper cups keep appearing in the lunchroom. And there’s a lot more on her wish list, including dual-flush toilets, light sensors throughout and using more renewable resources for the company’s energy-hogging 3,000-square-foot data center.
But it would have been difficult to have gotten even this far anywhere else, Salegio says. Originally from Chicago, she has shared some of her green lessons with HR colleagues there.
”They all think it’s nice and dandy, but they’d never adopt something like that. It wouldn’t look as right,” she says.
Portland’s green reputation has become a magnet for companies looking to improve their green practices, such as Vidoop. Every one of Vidoop’s 37 employees moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Portland in September after CEO Joel Novell decided the 2-year-old security software company needed to be closer to its primarily West Coast customers.
After a search, Novell and his employees decided Portland matched their lifestyles better than Seattle or San Francisco.
Today, the majority of the company’s employees commute by public transportation, bike or foot, including Novell, who lives within walking distance of the firm’s headquarters in downtown Portland’s Old Town district.
”I had three cars in Oklahoma and I have none now,” he says.
Maybe the biggest testament to Portland’s green scene: Shortly after Vidoop moved, the economy tanked, requiring the company to let nine people go.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is joining the growing list of federal agencies recognizing the benefits of active and sustainable transportation. Photo: shoothead.
It could, and it is. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services just announced a round of grants that will help 44 communities around the country prevent chronic disease and promote wellness. The program is part of the Community Putting Prevention to Work effort, a stimulus-funded initiative. Grantees will use the money for projects ranging from increasing physical activity to reducing youth tobacco use. But the most interesting part to us was the number of projects making the connection between public health and issues like sustainable development, walking and biking, and more integrated land use and transportation planning. Here are some examples (see the full list of grantees on the HHS website, and watch the press conference announcing the winners):
The Boston Public Health Commission plans to implement a new bike sharing program and Complete Streets policies, as well as land use policy changes that encourage community/backyard gardening.
The Jefferson County (AL) Department of Health will support mixed-use development to improve options for safe physical activity, develop greenways to increase everyday movement and access to physical activity hot spots, and establish neighborhood walking groups in low-income communities.
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health was funded to expand the number of farmers’ markets in low-income neighborhoods, create 1,000 “healthy corner stores” that sell fresh produce and water, and complete a citywide pedestrian and bike plan.
Seattle and King County Department of Public Health will increase access to safe places for activity in schools and parks, support the development of healthy corner stores, and King County and its cities will include elements in master plans that promote walking and biking.
The County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency will integrate public health considerations with transportation and land use planning policies.
The Miami-Dade County Health Department plans to enhance signage for bike lanes, boulevards, and walkable neighborhoods.
Pima County, Arizona will improve residents’ access to safe, high-quality parks and recreation facilities, and foster private and community gardens, farmers markets, and food cooperatives.
The Tri-County Health Department (Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties, CO) plans to support Safe Routes to School activities; advise municipalities on city planning, zoning, and transportation efforts to promote physical activity and access to healthy foods; and establish community gardens.
The City of Portland Health and Human Services Department will increase the number of safe, attractive, and accessible places for activity; enhance physical activity opportunities and signage in walkable/mixed-use neighborhoods and through transportation options (e.g., bike lanes/boulevards); and facilitate increased physical activity through Safe Routes to School programs.
SmartTrips Business is an outreach program of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) that helps local businesses inform their customers and employees of sustainable transportation options to reach their destination. Its final report for the first year in the North and Northwest Portland neighborhoods is now out and can be found here.
Between the months of May and September last year, SmartTrips Business worked with 192 employers, most of whom are small store-front retail businesses in the St. John’s, University Park, Nobb Hill and Pearl Districts. Together, they were able to distribute nearly 1,000 sustainable commuter kits to employees that included transit, bicycle, walking and ridersharing information as well as fill over 300 orders for customized commute options materials. They also scheduled installation of 43 bike racks. SmartTrips Business also offered information and consultation on the Business Energy Tax Credit, which they believe will be a powerful incentive for employers to promote alternative commuter options.
70 percent of employers were happy to report that the SmartTrips Business materials had a positive effect on their business. “The maps have been very popular with our customers. As a matter of fact, I plan on requesting more this week.” Says Andrew Chung, of Kokiyo Teriyaki in St. John’s. “There are definite advantages. It helps bring in foot traffic, rather than people just driving by in a car.”
Randy at Plew’s Market (now called Plew’s Brews) enthusiastically agrees. “The project has been very successful in the North end of town; everyone’s participating!” he said. “We’re just happy that the project is available and the city is moving forward with alternative means of transportation.”
So look out for the Smart Trips decal on the windows of your favorite local shops to get your maps and let PBOT know if you hear of a Portland business that would like to provide free maps to their customers and/or employees.
A promising Bend-based solar power company has been bought out by a Colorado competitor for as much as $90 million in cash and stock.
Advanced Energy Industries Inc. of Fort Collins, Colo., has purchased PV Powered, a maker of so-called inverters, a fundamental component of solar power systems. Advanced Energy executives said in a conference call Wednesday that it will operate PV Powered as an independent subsidiary and maintain its Bend office.
“They make some of the most reliable and easy to install inverters in the industry,” said Larry Firestone, Advanced Energy’s CFO and executive vice president. “PV Powered also has one of the most experienced design teams in the country. There’s some really skilled talent up there.”
PV Powered has emerged as one the bright lights of Oregon’s push into green energy. The company has about 90 employees and annual revenue of $21 million. The company’s sales have quadrupled in the last two years, said Gregg Patterson, PV Powered CEO.
Patterson said the deal is a big win for the company, it’s employees and Oregon. The company gets a new, deep-pocketed owner. It is putting several million dollars into enlarging its manufacturing line, in part with funds provided by Advanced Energy. And the company and its workers get to stay in economically battered Central Oregon.
Advanced Energy, like PV Powered, sells inverters, which convert the direct current (DC) electricity generated by solar panels into the alternating current (AC) power usable by households and other customers on the electrical grid.
While PV Powered has catered to residential and smaller commercial customers, Advanced Energy has concentrated on larger commercial and industrial users. “This is as synergistic a product portfolio as you can get,” Patterson said.
The Colorado company is also active in other products. It has more than 1,300 employees.
Another key attraction of PV was its production line. The Bend company has more manufacturing capacity than Advanced Energy and more than enough to capitalize on anticipated growth, Patterson said.
“We’re going to run that factory as hot as we can,” Firestone said.
Terms of the deal call for Advanced Energy to pay $35 million in cash and $15 million in company stock. The balance — as much as $40 million — will be paid out later and hinges on PV Powered meeting certain financial goals in 2010.
PV Powered was launched in 2003. Evans Renewable Holdings II LLC, made up of principals of Longview, Wash.-based construction company JH Kelly, bought a majority stake in PV Powered in 2008 and 2009.
PV Powered was a beneficiary of Oregon’s controversial Business Energy Tax Credit program, which the state has used to lure green-energy businesses to the Oregon. PV Powered received about $3 million from the program. Critics have blasted the BETC program as an overly generous and sloppily managed giveaway to business
After an extensive series of stories in The Oregonian detailed problems in the program, the state scaled it back.
Patterson remains a fan of the program, saying it was pivotal to PV Powered’s success. “That was essential,” Patterson said. “We would not have this story if not for the BETC.”
Despite the promise of solar power, the recession has taken a toll on Advanced Energy. The publicly traded company’s sales hit $186.3 million in 2009, down 43 percent from $328 million the year before.
Advanced Energy lost more than $102 million in 2009, the second year in a row it finished in the red.
(openPR) - Transportation engineers from Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, and Edmonton have teamed up to start Green Growth Cascadia (greengrowthCC.com) to promote awareness of how basic engineering and transportation decisions can affect our carbon footprint and emission levels.
Started by a Senior from Interlake High School, Wesley Zhao, as an intern at CH2M HILL in Bellevue, WA this green growth and sustainable transportation blog now has authors spanning 3 different states and into 2 provinces in Canada.
The blog was created along with accompanying Facebook and Twitter pages to allow these old engineers to fully take advantage of new social media. The site itself includes a Green Growth Terms glossary for any person to look up specific sustainable transportation terms or engineering acronyms.
“The Green Growth Cascadia venture is meant to inform the public about all the new technologies and policies that happen everyday and can significantly affect their daily routines and the Earth’s well-being. We are using social media to engage the average Joe by making transportation engineering and planning exciting and relatable,” said Jeanne Acutanza, Senior Transportation Planner at CH2M HILL. “The Green Growth blog is the easiest way for our bright and talented staff to be present and engaged with our surrounding Cascade region communities in technological advances in Smart Growth Technology.”
The new social media venture from CH2M Hill named Green Growth Cascadia was created by young and bright transportation engineers and planners from Seattle, San Francisco, Edmonton, Portland, and Vancouver.
CH2M Hill is an international engineering consulting company that has a Transportation Group that is paving the way for sustainability and smarth growth. The Green Growth Cascadia team works under the CH2M Hill Transportation Group to inform everyday people how smart growth is not only good for the Earth but also good for their general well being.
CH2M Hill - Green Growth Cascadia
1100 112th Avenue Northeast
Bellevue, WA 98004
P.G.E.’s solar roofs will cover the top of seven distribution warehouses of ProLogis. Above is a rendering of the project. Photo from BusinessWire
Portland General Electric will add to its solar energy portfolio a 2.4-megawatt solar rooftop project in Oregon that is said to be the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.
Spanning roughly 900,000 square feet, the solar roofs will cover the top of seven distribution warehouses of ProLogis, a distribution facilities company, in Portland, Gresham and Clackamas.
Northwest Solar Solutions, a division of Snyder Roofing, will install thin-film solar panels provided by United Solar Ovonic, a subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices Inc.
SunWay 3 L.L.C., a joint venture between the United States Bank and P.G.E., will own and operate the system and will secure state and federal solar tax credits to help finance the project.
The project received funding from the utility’s Clean Wind program, as well as $2.3 million in incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon.
The 2.4-MW system is P.G.E.’s second solar rooftop project with ProLogis, following a 1.1-MW project installed in 2008. This puts the utility’s total partnership with ProLogis to 3.5 MW of solar energy, enough to power approximately 388 households every year.
In total, the utility now has more than 12 MW of solar capacity in its portfolio, including 9.1 MW from customer-owned solar installations and a 104-kilowatt solar highway project with the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The state of Oregon requires its utilities to source 25 percent of their output from renewable energy by 2025. P.G.E. currently sources 10 percent of its output from renewable sources, the largest percentage of which is generated at Biglow Canyon wind farm.
) ranks eighth in the United States for total solar capacity, according to the Solar Electric Power Association.The association awarded P.G.E. in 2009 with the Solar Business Achievement Award for being the first utility in the nation to adopt a third-party ownership model to help develop large-scale solar projects in the state.
TAIPEI, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Taipei Plas is about to make it happen! It’s the venue that brings together the entire industry and lays out the roadmap for the coming three years. At the coming event there will be a fresh focus on eco-friendly plastics and rubber making. There will be 14 seminars packed with insiders on the direction of the industry, and even greater emphasis on Cross Strait Cooperation.
“Trend of High Performance and Multi-functions Biomass Composites”
Taipei Plas (the Taipei International Plastics & Rubber Industry Show 2010) hosts 419 exhibitors from 13 countries who are using 2,111 booths to show their best from March 5 to March 9 at the NANGANG Exhibition Hall. Success is guaranteed at this once-every-two-year event since it is organized by TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) and TAMI (Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry).
Leading Green Trends in Plastics & Rubber
GOING GREEN is a matter taken seriously by Taipei Plas exhibitors! They know more efficiency means less waste of material and power. That’s why the All Electric Super Speed LGP Purpose Machine by Chuan Lih Fa brings into play all the desired characteristics of speed, energy-saving, quiet operation, multi-axis controller and muti-loop fast cycle design. And it’s also why All Electric feature is designed to meet the goals of reducing carbon and saving energy. The Precision Plunger Type Injection Molding Machine by Edex Technology not only has energy saving features, but also features humanized design with easy-control, error proofing engineering programs. These designs make micro injection molding easier, more precise, and more user-friendly.
And there’s more! This year several new products will be introduced, including In Mold Labeling Turnkey Solution, Fully Automation All-Electric Vertical Injection Molding Equipment, Vertical Desktop Mini-Plunger Injection Molding Machine, All Electric Super Speed LGP Purpose Machine, Matrix Deposit-Free Cooling Machine, Rubber Injection Molding Machine with Energy Saving Innovations.
Covering Every Facet of the Trade!
Taipei Plas 2010 covers such theme areas as:
Plastics & Rubber Processing Machinery Area
Molds & Dies Area
Auxiliary Equipment Area
Raw Materials & Semi-Finished & Finished Products Area
The Media & Int’l Associations Area
All Star Line-up of Exhibitors
The show covers the complete supply chain of industry to provide total solutions for visitors. Get set to see such manufacturers such as: LIEN FA INJECTION MACHINERY, SHANG TA CHIA, OUTSTANDING MACHINERY, HWA CHIN, FONG KEE, WORLDLY CHEN HSONG MACHINERY, JIH CHING MACHINE, JON WAI, JENN CHONG, QUEEN’S MACHINERY, JANDI’S INDUSTRIAL, HYPLAS, VENUS PLASTIC, FU CHUN SHIN, LONG NEW, VICTOR TAICHUNG, DIING KUEN, CHUAN LIH FA, MULTIPLAS ENGINERY, YE I, KUNG HSING, HEMINGSTONE MACHINERY.
Seminars Offer Hottest Tips on Trends & Tech
A total of 14 seminars on industrial trends and technologies will be held in conjunction with the exhibition to offer the hottest tips on trade trends and tech. Feature speakers are from Delta Electronics, Pou Yuen Tech, TÜV Rheinland Taiwan, IDT Systematic Technologies, the Plastic Industry Development Center, the Precision Machinery Research and Development Center and the Institute for Information Industry. They address such topics as “Environmental Friendly Plastics of Materials Selection and Processing Applications,” “Trend of High Performance and Multi-functions Biomass Composites,” “Multi Dimensional in Surface Decoration for Polymers,” and “Energy Saving Technology for Plastic Injection and Hydraulic Machine.”
Bonus Events!
In addition, Taipei Plas this year features specially invited guest speaker Mr. Shamin Ahmed, general secretary of the Rubber and Plastics Manufacturing and Export Association of Bangladesh to speak on current and future trends in the plastics market in Bangladesh.
And with the emergence of Cross-Strait trade and industry the plastics and rubber industry has soared in importance. That’s why Taipei Plas is hosting the Cross-Strait Plastics Industry Cooperation and Development Seminar that was organized March 4th just before the show by exhibition organizers from both Taiwan and the PRC and succeeded in building many bridges between Taiwan and China.
First Class Services for Taipei Plas Exhibitors and Visitors
Visitors and exhibitors can enjoy a dedicated service zone at the NANGANG Exhibition Hall’s N Sector. Its services include a buyer’s lounge, meeting zone, internet access, D&B customer credit lookup, and catalogue displays, making this the perfect place to check e-mail, or just have a cup of coffee.
Particularly noteworthy are the D&B Customer Credit Lookup, Hoovers Buyers’ and Sellers’ Database, and customer inquiry services on the 4th floor, provided free of charge by HSBC; in addition, the buyer’s lounge on the 1st floor will offer buyers copying, fax, and internet services, in addition to free coffee (courtesy of Polaris Creative Corp.).
TAIPEI PLAS 2010 runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from March 5 to 9 and is open to international visitors, domestic industrial professionals with visitor passes, and the general public with tickets. Tickets are sold each show day until 4 p.m. at the price of NT$200 each. Students of machinery-related departments and schools from domestic colleges and universities are welcome to visit the show by showing their student identification to exchange for passes. During the show, free shuttle buses are arranged to travel between the NANGANG Exhibition Hall and Nangang MRT Station and TWTC Exhibition Hall 1 for visitors.
Jay Dykeman of Jay’s Garage in Southeast Portland fills up a car with a biodiesel blend. The city has decided to wait on a mandate that all diesel fuel sold in Portland have at least a 10 percent biodiesel blend by July 1. (Photo by Dan Carter/DJC)
Portland isn’t ready for B10 biodiesel. Or at least that’s the impression being given by the Portland Water Bureau, which has decided to delay implementation of a new Renewable Fuels Standard to meet goals for 2010.
The city’s policy requiring all diesel fuel sold within the city of Portland to have a blend of at least 5 percent biodiesel (B5) would have changed July 1 to require a blend of at least 10 percent.
But according to Anne Hill, program manager for Portland’s RFS, the city has decided to hold off on the policy adjustment due to industry concerns about quality standards and engine warranties. Also, a requirement for all diesel fuel sold in the state to have a minimum blend of 2 percent biodiesel went into effect this year, as did a qualifying feedstock rule that requires 50 percent of biodiesel to come from canola and other specific feedstock.
Hill said the Water Bureau, which last summer took over management of the RFS from the Bureau of Development Services, feels stakeholders such as oil companies, fuel distributors, station owners and trucking companies need time to catch up.
“There’s been a lot of change in Oregon and Portland around biodiesel this year already,” Hill said. “When you go over 5 percent, the fuel is no longer considered diesel and there are no ASTM standards. We’re waiting for the industry to catch up.”
ASTM International is a nonprofit that develops international standards for materials and products used in construction, manufacturing and transportation. Hill said fleet managers have expressed concern that running B10 in their vehicles could void engine warranties, since no standards have yet been identified for the biodiesel blend. And many car companies have not yet formally acknowledged that a higher biodiesel blend can run in their engines.
“Many car companies have been dealing with bigger things than a B6 to B20 standard,” Hill said. “And the majority of diesel is put into long-haul trucks. I can tell a guy from Texas pulling his rig in that B10 won’t affect his engine. But will he believe me? Or will he fuel up outside of Portland? We don’t want station owners to lose business.”
Oregon’s biodiesel industry has benefited greatly from Portland ’s Renewable Fuel Standard, according to Tyson Keever of SeQuential, a biodiesel supplier with offices in Portland and Eugene. (Photo by Dan Carter/DJC)
But at the same time, the RFS has been integral in growing the business of biofuels in Oregon, according to Tyson Keever of SeQuential, a biodiesel supplier with offices in Portland and Eugene. Keever said holding off on B10 for a year or two won’t kill Oregon’s growing biodiesel industry, but added that it will impact his business and those of suppliers.
“The technical differences between B5 and B10 are almost indistinguishable as far as performance,” Keever said. “Right now, there is a lot of misinformation and political land mines around biodiesel. But we have customers who have been using B99 for eight to 10 months with no issues.”
In fact, the Water Bureau’s own fleet for some time has used B20, B50 and B99 blends. Keever said the city’s use of biodiesel in its fleets has been a huge incentive for his company, which has expanded to producing approximately 1 million gallons of biodiesel per year. Other production facilities, including Beaver Biodiesel of Corvallis, GreenFuels of Klamath Falls, and Portland Biodiesel, also have come online recently due to Portland’s hunger for biodiesel.
“(The RFS) has driven growth and spurred development for farmers, production facilities and crush facilities,” Keever said. “Without this standard, our industry would not have grown. This has been a market mover. Portland is the envy of the (biodiesel) industry.”
Crush facilities process the organic materials used in biofuels into a form that can be used as fuel. Four new crush facilities have popped up in Oregon since the RFS was implemented in 2006, Keever said. An RFS also has been adopted in other states, and Washington’s state Legislature is considering implementation of a statewide B2-blend requirement.
“Other places are following Oregon’s lead because we’ve demonstrated that biofuels are working,” Keever said. “I have a sincere appreciation for (City) Commissioner (Randy) Leonard and the council for choosing to run biodiesel in our city fleet. By standing with the industry, they’re saying, ‘This is a real fuel today.’ ”
Hill was adamant that this year’s delay for B10 won’t turn into a reversal on the city’s biofuels mandate. She is monitoring ASTM’s progress in creating a standard for higher biodiesel blends, as well as car manufacturers’ progress in acknowledging that blends can run safely in their engines.
“Petroleum companies will hem and haw, but they will always comply because they don’t want the bad press,” Hill said. “But there are a lot of issues to work through. And we can afford the time to work through those.”
Portland City Council is expected to approve the suspension of the B10 standard at Wednesday’s meeting at 9:30 a.m.
Pickathon Shuttle~last chance for pre-sale tickets, where to catch the bus and more…
The time is now, the place is here…er, well, Pendarvis Farm actually. Now, how do you get there conveniently, safely, and with a low carbon-footprint? You take the max to the ecoShuttle, of course! In addition to a great ride in a biodiesel bus, you also have the chance to win one of several fabulous prizes, and of course you could meet some new friends as you travel to Pickathon in sustainable style!
Many have bought their bus passes already, saving them money and reducing boarding time. Those who pre-order will also be allowed to board first, which reduces your chance of having to wait for the next shuttle if the bus fills. Bus passes are on pre-sale until 11:59pm PST on 8/4/2010. You can request your tickets by following this link: http://www.ecoshuttle.net/index.php/pickathon10/
For those unable to purchase their passes in advance, you can still buy your passes at the bus. Cost for passes at the door is $7. Cash only.
That’s just pathetic, particularly for Knoxville and Tulsa, which have sizable populations and should have well-functioning transit systems (which isn’t to say that they do, obviously). Knoxville is also a “winner” among the regions with the highest drive-alone shares.
n Portland, Oregon, your company isn’t really green unless you’ve got a bike cage in the parking structure, a compost bin in the lunchroom, fume-free paint on the walls, recycled glass on the lobby front desk, and nary a plastic water bottle, paper cup or soda machine in sight. Portland’s strict land-use laws, burgeoning renewable energy industry, mass transit system, bike culture, parks and clean water are only some of the reasons it has been voted “Greenest City in America” by Popular Science and “one of America’s top 10 cleanest cities” by Forbes. 
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