Downtown Portland Property Owners Band Together to Save Money and Resources
Portland is joining the ranks of forward-thinking cities across the U.S. and Canada as it launches the Portland 2030 District, a groundbreaking high-performance building district in downtown Portland that aims to dramatically reduce the environmental impacts of constructing and operating commercial and large multi-family buildings, while strengthening Portland’s economy.
The built environment – commercial office buildings, municipal buildings, and multi-family housing — consumes 75% of all the electricity produced in the U.S. In Maine, transportation emissions account for 42% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The Portland 2030 District is a program of the Greater Portland Council of Governments. Kristina Egan, Executive Director, said, “This project gives property owners, managers and developers tools to save resources and money. We expect the new Portland 2030 District will be good for the bottom line and for the planet.”
“I’m excited to be part of a joint venture that has proven successful in many other major metropolitan areas that will encourage and facilitate utility and greenhouse gas reductions in the private sector,” said Drew Swenson, President of Paragon Management and President of the recently-created Portland 2030 District Board of Directors. “We can follow in their footsteps to reduce energy and water consumption as well as transportation emissions from some of the largest buildings on the Peninsula in Portland and collectively reduce emissions 50% by 2030.”
Currently, the cities of Seattle, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Denver, Stamford, San Antonio, San Francisco, Dallas, Toronto, Albuquerque, Grand Rapids, Ithaca and Austin have established 2030 Districts.
The Portland 2030 District’s first actions will be to:
- Hold events for property owners and managers to learn about various strategies to reduce energy and water usage;
- Develop strategies to reduce the number of people driving to and parking in downtown Portland;
- Work with local utilities to help ensure utility data is available; and
- Create an information hub on best practices, case studies, financing, incentives and preferred vendors within the District’s boundaries.
The Portland 2030 District founding members include the following building owners, managers and community partners: Avesta Housing, Boulos Asset Management, J.B. Brown & Sons, Paragon Management, LLC, Portland Housing Authority, and The Press Hotel.
These founding members have agreed to voluntarily benchmark, monitor and track their buildings’ resource consumption, working with national experts to meet measurable reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, driving trips to the downtown, and water consumption.
If you would like more information or your business is interested in becoming a member please contact Jennifer Brennan with the Greater Portland Council of Governments.
To read more about the initiative – http://www.2030districts.org/portland-maine
