World Environment Day is Wednesday, June 5 and Portland has been selected as the 2013 North American host city. To celebrate this great honor bestowed by the United Nations, there are many great events happening all over Portland leading up to the big day.

The Port will host a walking tour of Portland International Airport and portions of our LEED Platinum headquarters building on World Environment Day. Join us and learn about the many sustainability solutions in place at PDX. Whether it's reducing waste or our carbon footprint, providing alternate transportation options or using natural systems to treat wastewater onsite, there's a lot to be proud of at Portland's gateway to the world. The PDX Sustainability Tour will take place June 5 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. To RSVP or for more information, email lisa.timmerman@portofportland.com.

The Port of Portland received a visit last week from the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee during their U.S. trade mission to the West Coast. The committee is responsible for planning infrastructure improvements for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and plans to renovate three stadiums and build nine new stadiums, open a new international airport, expand its container port facility and expand its light rail and highway systems ahead of the event.

The delegation was led by U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, Susan L. Ziadeh and Qatar Secretary General, Hassan Al-Thawadi. The group also visited Los Angeles and Seattle. Other stops during their stay in Portland included Nike and Jeld-Wen Field.

While at Port headquarters, the group toured our LEED Platinum building to learn more about its energy and water saving features, like our Living Machine®. Executive Director Bill Wyatt described Port operations in general and discussed the Port's sustainability efforts including parking guidance and QuickPay parking payment system that help reduce emissions from idling vehicles. The group, which had many questions even at the end of a long day touring Portland, was particularly interested in what drives the culture around sustainability in Portland. 

The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee (some sporting their Portland Timbers scarves) with Port Executive Director Bill Wyatt and Jennifer Woods, U.S. Department of Commerce

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It’s official: The Port’s new headquarters building at Portland International Airport has received LEED® Platinum certification. Established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute, LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

For Port staff working in the building over the past year, the award reconfirms what we experience everyday: that green buildings are great places to work. Port executive director Bill Wyatt, who occupies an open workspace the same size as the employees he oversees, said, “The LEED platinum certification affirms the goal we set out at the beginning of the project: that the building reflect this region’s commitment to sustainability.”

The 205,000-square foot office building incorporates many state-of-the-art green technologies, but the one we are asked about the most is the Living Machine® system, an on-site ecological wastewater treatment alternative that treats 100 percent of the building’s wastewater for reuse in the building’s toilets and cooling tower. If you’ve ever visited the Port building, you’ve walked right by it: it’s the innocuous-looking planter in the first-floor lobby.

Underneath the building, more than 200 pipes provide ground source heating and cooling in a closed loop system, serving the passive radiant ceiling panel heating and cooling inside. This is the first coupling of these heating and cooling systems in the United States, and the result is a comfortable temperature year-round.

Other green features—daylighting, window glazing, exterior shading, water-efficient fixtures, and two green roofs—are detailed on the Port’s HQ website, where you can take a virtual tour!

The Port of Portland was thrilled to receive the Green Building Award at the City of Portland’s 19th annual Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) Awards Breakfast. The awards were presented by the BEST Business Center and City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

The BEST Awards recognize organizations demonstrating a commitment to excellence in sustainable business practices. The Port was in fine company: other winners included the Portland Trail Blazers/Rose Quarter, Coffee Bean International, DeSantis Landscapes, Barbur Storage, Doubletree Hotel, and B-Line Sustainable Urban Delivery.

The Port’s award recognized the green building techniques that went into our new headquarters building. Mayor Sam Adams cited the building’s water and energy conservation measures, including the Living Machine Wastewater Treatment System. Greg Sparks, engineering project development manager with the Port, thanked the crowd for the recognition and noted that the building couldn’t have been built without the support and vision of countless people, from Port leadership to talented firms to the hundreds of employees who show up for work each day at the building.

The fourth annual Oregon Sustainability Awards were announced yesterday at the Future Energy conference, held in Portland. Governor John Kitzhaber gave the conference’s keynote address before he and Secretary of State Kate Brown presented awards to organizations that have taken dramatic and comprehensive steps to incorporate sustainability into their operations.

The Port was thrilled to win in the government category, and Steve Schreiber, aviation director for the Port, was there to accept the award. In her introduction, Kate Brown, who also chairs the Oregon Sustainability Board, talked about the Port’s new headquarters building and programs we’ve implemented to conserve energy throughout our aviation and marine operating areas. When she mentioned the Port’s purchase of 100 percent certified renewable power, the audience, made up of people working in the renewable energy field, erupted in spontaneous applause.

Congratulations to our co-recipients Burgerville, Northwoods Nursery/One Green World, and a joint award for Corvallis School District, Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, and First Alternative Co-op.