http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/index.php Portland and surrounding area community news and information http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691809467707400 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691809467707400 en-us There’s been a run on 100-watt light bulbs lately in the Portland area. Starting this month, U.S. light bulb manufacturers and importers must meet new energy-efficiency standards, much like fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles. Incandescent 100-watt bulbs are the first to disappear, once ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692779326410200 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692779326410200 en-us The Plug-in hybrid decal is not mandatory, unless you want to flaunt your green cred. Spending time with an early version of the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in offers lessons about the potential of electric vehicles – and the limitations of the public charging-station infrastructure. Prius is ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692742803247800 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692742803247800 en-us Cars and motorcycles are going electric, and so are commercial trucks. Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp., a division of Portland’s Daimler Trucks North America, hopes to move into mass production this fall of an all-electric delivery van. They call it the E-cell. The company is still ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692591404272000 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692591404272000 en-us Electric and hybrid vehicles are a hot commodity in the Portland area — so hot that local automobile dealerships are scrambling to get enough supply. “We finally have the Mitsubishi i in stock,” says Sean Trimble, Internet director for the Herzog-Meier Auto Dealership in ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692052204777000 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692052204777000 en-us Electric vehicle owners can “fill up their tank” for free on Electric Avenue and try out one of several battery-charging systems. While the cars are docked at one of eight charging stations on a single block at Portland State University, researchers hope to glean some insights about ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692163793216900 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692163793216900 en-us Gail Zuro refers to her Nissan Leaf purchase as her mid-life crisis. “I’m very analytical,” says Zuro, a project manager at Planar Systems. “It’s outside my character to be one of the first to buy an electric car.” Still, it was hardly an impulse purchase. Zuro ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692208109160300 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132692208109160300 en-us Most Portland-area electric vehicle companies are still in the startup phase or waiting for their first big break, but there’s one segment of the industry where this area is already a world leader: forklifts. In Fairview, a team of 250 people is creating new electric forklifts for NACCO ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691835510506600 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691835510506600 en-us The hand-lettered sign on the bar in the tiny town of Grand Isle, La., caught our eye at once. “Daddy’s Money,” it read. “Oil wrestling featuring the girls from Slidell.” Amid the jukeboxes and fraternity-like atmosphere, tired bar owner Jack Jambon sat on a bar ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691778100440800 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691778100440800 en-us Avoidable food waste accounts for 2 percent of all carbon emissions in the United States, according to a new study by Kumar Venkat, a Bethany resident who operates CleanMetrics Corp. About two-thirds of the waste occurs at the production and processing stage, Venkat calculates. “There is a ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691751796459300 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691751796459300 en-us On Tualatin Acres Farm, the grass is thick, the air feels clean and the cows look happy. No machine noises can be heard. No cramped cages or feeding lots can be seen on this fourth-generation family farm outside Hillsboro and Cornelius. It’s no wonder there’s a growing perception that ... http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691732048303700 2012-01-19 00:00:00 http://www.estacadanews.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=132691732048303700 en-us Karen Kraus and Steve Holmer both think they’re being green. One of them has to be wrong. Kraus is executive director of the Portland-based Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, which has spayed or neutered more than 50,000 wild cats over the last 16 years. Holmer is senior policy adviser for the ...