[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. -Ed.]

by Libby Tucker

"[A student group] spent the summer canvassing a 38-block area of Southeast Portland to raise awareness and support for developer MidTech Energy’s $7 million to $9 million project. Plans call for a solar-powered geothermal pump at the Sunnyside Environmental School that would connect to a network of underground pipes to heat and cool as many as 500 homes."

"The Portland Office of Sustainable Development is in the process of conducting its own feasibility study for a similar district energy system in the North Pearl District. But so far, the Sunnyside project has been a grass roots community effort with little more than verbal support from city and state leaders."

"To be successful, the project will eventually need city support in order to integrate it with other energy plans and maximize efficiency, said Jeff Bissonnette, organizing director of the Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon."

"'This is particularly exciting because it’s an opportunity to learn how to retrofit neighborhoods,' said Bissonnette. 'If we learn lessons here, we can apply it in North and Northeast Portland, and not just the North Pearl, which is a new neighborhood.'"

Photo credit: Wil Stuckey