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JUSTIN'S DAY
Justin wakes up early, but not early enough to
catch his housemates. He and three of his friends
bought their old bungalow a few years back, when
the City of Portland offered incentives for groups
of people to buy older houses originally designed
for single families. For the City, this meant more
population density with existing housing stock and
conserving resources. For Justin and his friends,
it meant being able to gain equity in a home while
living in a convenient, close-in neighborhood, something
he would not have been able to do on his own.
Justin takes a quick shower, barely realizing how
different the experience was from the people living
in the house 30 years earlier. His water is heated
by solar panels on his roof; the shower is short,
to preserve drinking grade water; and this water,
along with that from the kitchen sink and gutters,
is captured in a cistern below the ground to be
used as “greywater” for flushing the toilet and
watering the garden. This is now standard practice
– not only does it save money, but it also makes
much better use of a valuable resource.
After a quick run in one of his neighborhood parks,
he bikes off to work. Justin is one of many people
in the region employed in the clean energy field.
He helps people adopt energy-efficient practices
in older houses as well as install renewable energy
systems in homes and neighborhoods. Today, Justin
reviews plans developed by one neighborhood association
to site small-scale wind turbines in their district,
then leads a public meeting with nearby residents
about the project.
Justin ends his day with a meeting with City officials
and businesses about creating an “Energy Zone,”
an area of town that would be a net exporter of
energy to other parts of the city. While many folks
are already living environmentally responsibly,
and new developments meet high standards on green
building and energy use, the growth of the city
has made carbon-neutrality a moving target. Pilot
projects like this have been known to inspire others
to action. Justin is glad to be creating a positive
future in Portland, knowing that his work motivates
others to do the same.
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