Biodeisel/HE/Electric Cars/J.E. Dunn

Henneberry Eddy is designing a new acadmenic building for Portland Community College.

J.E. Dunn., Portland, recently topped out Providence Office Park II, designed by JRJ Architects. The new office park includes a 239,012 sq ft, 6-story office building with basement, and a 211,453 sq ft, 5-story parking structure. (Photo courtesy of J.E. Dunn.)

Oregon’s 2 percent biodiesel (B2) requirement went into effect in August, making it the third state in the nation to reach a production level of five million gallons.

Established as part of renewable energy legislation passed in 2007, nine counties in northwest Oregon will lead the adoption on August 5. The rest of the state will join by October 1.

Biodiesel already has a significant presence in Oregon. The state is home to three biodiesel plants: Beaver Biodiesel in Albany, Green Fuels of Oregon in Klamath Falls, and SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel in Salem. The City of Portland has used a minimum of 20 percent biodiesel in its fleet of several hundred diesel vehicles since 2004.

Community College Building In Design Phase

Portland - Hennebery Eddy Architects is working on the design of a new Academic Building, the Newberg Education Center for Portland Community College. The 12,000 sq ft building will seek LEED® Gold Certification.

The new education center will be the first building for PCC in Newberg. PCC, which is roughly the size of Rhode Island, has three comprehensive campuses, five workforce training and education centers, and 200 community locations in the Portland metropolitan area.

Electric Car Research, Charging Stations Funded

Salem - Oregon has been selected as one of five test markets for the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) and the associated charging station network. Oregon was named as a test market by the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec) that received $99.8 million in federal funds to study electric vehicle usage. The goal of the project is to deploy EV charging stations and analyze the use of the stations and EVs to guide widespread adoption throughout the country.

eTec, a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc., is partnering with Nissan North America to deploy approximately 5,000 electric vehicles and 12,750 charging stations in five U.S. markets, one of which is Oregon. Up to 1,000 Nissan electric vehicles will be deployed in Oregon and 2,500 charging stations will be installed at homes and businesses that choose to purchase the Nissan EV and participate in the program.

The deployment of vehicles and infrastructure will focus initially on the Portland-metro area and then expand to other areas in Oregon, likely including Eugene, Salem and Corvallis.

Deployment of Nissan’s EVs is scheduled for fall of 2010 and charging infrastructure installations are expected to begin in summer of 2010. The Nissan EV will be available at local Nissan dealerships.

Other Oregon companies also receiving ARRA dollars for electric vehicle and battery technology include:

$299.2 million - Johnson Controls, Inc. (Entek) Lebanon, OR - Production of nickel-cobalt-metal battery cells and packs, as well as production of battery separators (by partner Entek) for hybrid and electric vehicles.

$22.2 million - Cascade Sierra Solutions -Coburg, OR - Deployment of truck stop electrification infrastructure at 50 sites along major U.S. Interstate corridors and provide 5,450 rebates for truck modification to idle reduction technologies.