Green Options

For the second time, a convicted poacher from Linn County, Oregon, is going to prison for killing bears and selling their gallbladders.

Convicted poacher Raymond Edward Hillsman will be serving his second jail sentence for leading a team that hunted bears in five western Oregon counties in order to harvest and sell the bears’ gallbladders.

At a breakfast meeting for Nashville business executives, Carlos Tavares, Chairman of Nissan America, said he fully expects the company to have 20,000 reservations for the Nissan LEAF by the time the car goes on sale late next year.

Oregon this summer became the first state to enact in law a product stewardship law for the collection of leftover consumer paint.  The pilot program, which expires in 2014, involves a consumer fee that a nonprofit organization established by paint producers uses to pay for the collection and proper disposal or reuse of the leftover paint.

One of only three wolf pairs in Oregon was killed by U.S.D.A. Wildlife Services with approval from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Center for Biological Diversity announced today that Oregon’s wolf recovery program suffered a serious setback when a pair of wolves residing in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in eastern Oregon were killed over the weekend by wildlife authorities.

If you’ve kept an eye on the federal government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program (which will end on Monday), you know that it’s been a huge success on a number of fronts: hundreds of thousands of people have traded in older, less fuel-efficient vehicles for new models with better gas mileage, and some auto manufacturers are even rehiring. Of course, the program’s had its downsides, also: dealers have complained about slow reimbursements, and some environmentalists have worried that the fuel economy requirements weren’t quite stringent enough.

Portland, Oregon-based businessman Joe Doebele has another complaint about the program: there’s nothing in it to get commuters to shift from four wheels to two. Rather than just throw stones, though, Doeble decided to do something about this shortcoming: he’s started his own “cash for clunkers” program at his cargo bike shop Joe Bike.

Portland, Oregon is a beautiful city, known for its roses, organic food, environmentally conscious citizens, and its beer.  It has truly become a destination for Oregonians and travelers alike searching for locally made micro brews and craft beers.

It’s hard to walk two blocks in Portland without encountering a brew pub, ale house, or beer bar, but there’s one that stands out as being truly exceptional.  Located in downtown Portland, Bailey’s Taproom is a cozy, modern facility that specializes in Pacific Northwest microbrews and craft brews.  They serve up everything in every imaginable style from a “brutally hoppy IPA, a clean lager, a sour Belgian, a thick stout, or a boozy barleywine”.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest contribution by Elaina Medina of Portland General Electric.

This week Portland General Electric welcomed news it was named a strategic participant and Oregon was named one of five test markets for the largest rollout of EVs and an associated charging station network in U.S. history.

August is hotter than ever for those of us who envision a future where the streets are populated with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles and powered by renewable energies.

The month began with the unveiling of Nissan’s Leaf electric vehicle. On Wednesday, President Obama and the Department of Energy announced $2.4 billion in grants to fuel the development of the electric vehicle industry and reduce our nation’s dependence on oil.

Next week opens with the second annual Plug-In 2009 in Long Beach, Calif.

For a city with so many amazing trees, Portland is getting ready to add a bunch of new LEAFs to our streets.

No, that’s not a typo. I’m talking about the LEAF, Nissan’s just-unveiled electric vehicle, which is set to hit dealerships in the fall of 2010. In our quest to be the nation’s leader in electric vehicle infrastructure, usage and development, the Portland region took a big step forward today with the announcement that Nissan and eTec selected Oregon as one of five test markets for the largest deployment of EV’s and the associated charging station network in American history.

ZeaChem — a company launched in 1998 by “two guys in a pickup” and ranked by Biofuels Digest as the 11th hottest company in bioenergy last year — claims that their process for making advanced, next-generation ethanol from fast growing woody crops such as poplars will result in a yield of 2,000 gallons of ethanol per acre.

In case you’re wondering if that number is good, compare it to the current yield obtained by the best managed corn ethanol plants of about 450 gallons per acre. A 2,000 gallon per acre yield is on par with the amount of fuel algae outfits claim they can produce with technology that doesn’t really yet exist. ZeaChem’s process already functions using available technology.

Arizona wants to be the “solar-energy hub of the world,” Kristin Mays, chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in the state, said at the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week.

The state last week enacted a law that offers new incentives, including a tax credit of up to 10 percent, for solar companies that set up shop there.

At the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week, some state rivalry became apparent as Arizona leaders argued the state’s advantages compared to California. “We know the Mojave desert’s off limits. Well, the desert in Arizona is open for business,” said Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, to laughter from the audience.