Sustainability – an Integral Part of Portland
No city in America has a stronger reputation for putting sustainability into practice than Portland, Oregon.
When we moved our business from Kansas City to Portland, we knew we were moving to one of America’s most ardent centers for sustainable living... from agriculture to recycling to LEED buildings. What we didn’t know was how deep sustainability’s roots go here. Every client we have worked with in Portland has touched on the subject of sustainability.
Roots Realty takes an inclusive approach to strengthening Portland's core.
Reclaiming Neighborhoods || Located in Southeast Portland, Roots Realty works to find homes for people who love Portland and its many colorful neighborhoods. As we worked with Roots to develop their web site, we learned how dedicated they are to reclaiming older homes and rebuilding inner city neighborhoods. Their own offices reflect this dedication with an extensive laundry list of sustainable attributes, which include retrofitting an oil furnace to heat their building using B99 Biodiesel which is over 99 percent renewable plant based oil, specifically non-GMO canola oil grown in Eastern Oregon. Their system even uses a locally made recycled steel fuel storage tank.
Marsh & Fear believes your yard should reflect nature's beauty.
Finding Beauty in Nature || We also developed a web site for Marsh & Fear Garden Solutions, a landscape design firm located in Portland’s John’s Landing neighborhood on the western bank of the Willamette River. Anne Marsh and Gary Fear are dedicated gardeners who work to bring their love of gardening and the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest to homes in the Portland region. Their knowledge of native plants is immense, which we learned first hand when they took us hiking in the Columbia River Gorge and pointed out all of the native species – from rhodies to bleeding hearts – that have always made their home in Oregon.
PAE Engineers design energy efficiency into buildings of all types.
Reducing Your Footprint || Clearly, the most direct involvement we’ve had with sustainability came from our effort to develop and design a presentation on Portland’s green building leadership. We worked with PAE Engineers, Portland State University and the Portland chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council to prepare the supporting media for a talk PAE and PSU representatives gave at the international GreenBuild Conference in Chicago which told the story behind PSU’s LEED buildings (four currently and more in the works).
Sustainable systems are important to us. And we’re happy to be a part of what’s happening here in sustainable Portland.
Yulan Studio now a little more green
We have converted all of our electric energy use to PGE's Green Source™ energy option, which uses 100% renewable power from new wind, geothermal and biomass sources. And we've signed up for NW Natural's Smart Energy program to offset the carbon emissions from our natural gas use. Add that to our use of 100% recycled copier and writing paper, and it makes us feel just a little more green.