Financial mechanisms for energy design in EcoDistricts
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Date
2011-06
Authors
Overdevest, Justin Asher, 1978-
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Cities across the United States are increasingly vulnerable to internal and external forces that threaten energy and food security, access to resources, local ecologies and natural systems, global climate, and local economies. Energy is both a driver of these forces and an outcome of them. The City of Portland is promoting EcoDistricts, a strategy to accelerate sustainable development at the neighborhood scale. EcoDistricts could foster greater democratic participation through public and private buy-in while engaging financial mechanisms that could lead to unique, place-based solutions resulting in multiple community benefits. To date, there has been widespread difficulty both in assessing potential clean energy projects from a traditional financing perspective and in connecting projects with appropriate funding mechanisms. This study discusses and analyzes the context for using EcoDistricts to match energy projects in Portland's Lents neighborhood with appropriate financing. Four financial mechanisms were examined in connection to four district-scale energy projects for Lents to determine the associated costs, market analysis, and overall legitimacy of these financial mechanisms to provide for "strong" sustainability.
Description
xiv, 152 p. : col. ill.
Keywords
American studies, Area planning and development, Sustainability, Energy, Social sciences, Applied science, Block scale, EcoDistricts, Finance mechanisms, Urban metabolism, Portland (Or.)