Here in Bend, homes and buildings are the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, representing approximately 51% of all emissions (City of Bend, 2016 Greenhouse Gas Inventory). Looking to the future, designers, builders, retrofitters, policy advocates, materials suppliers, landscapers and more are doing innovative work to address this impact on our environment. The Central Oregon Green Building Tour is a way to celebrate this work, and highlight local projects large and small that inspire others to follow along.
On Saturday, September 28, The Environmental Center is hosting their 22nd Central Oregon Green Building Tour, which is free and open to the public. The morning Learning Summit will take place at OSU-Cascades in Tykeson Hall, starting with registration at 9am and programming starting at 9:30am. The Summit includes a diverse lineup of speakers and workshops, geared towards a variety of audiences from DIYer to professionals. Participants can also show up to mingle with green building professionals in the lobby during the program (coffee and bagels provided).
At 1pm, after an hour lunch break, the Tour kicks off with those who are interested joining Bend Bikes for a guided bike tour. Others can participate in the tour by getting themselves to any of the seven open sites at their leisure until 6pm. The tour sites were selected based on their alignment with at least one of the four tour themes: electrification, building dense livable cities, water resiliency in the high desert, and healthy materials Life Cycle Analysis.
The Ray Hall site at OSU-Cascades has its own special programming, with a presentation, Q&A session, and tour happening from 1-3pm. Learn about this site’s innovative design, mass timber construction and geothermal energy-fueled heating and cooling in a presentation with Jarrod Penttila, OSU-Cascades’ Associate Director of Capital Planning, before exploring the building’s four levels, with views of the campus land remediation underway for future buildings. This is the only opportunity for participants to visit this site, which still leaves plenty of time to visit the other six sites afterwards!
Neil Baunsgard, climate and transportation policy manager at The Environmental Center, was instrumental in making the event happen this year, and also happens to be a green building enthusiast outside of work. For those that attended the tour in 2022, his DIY, net-zero ADU was a crowd favorite among the sites. “The Green Building Tour is my favorite day of the year,” says Baunsgard. “It is so inspiring to see everyone out in the community learning from their neighbors on creative ways to build better. It is amazing what dedicated individuals and businesses can do to improve our community. Come join the fun!”
The Environmental Center is also asking the community to volunteer to help put on a successful event. Volunteers will be stationed at each of the tour sites to welcome and check in guests– no green building expertise required! To sign up, visit envirocenter.org/greenbuildingtour and click Volunteer, or contact Priscilla@envirocenter.org directly.
See the Green Building Tour Guide available online and in The Source Weekly on September 26. Register for the tour at envirocenter.org/greenbuildingtour, where you can also download a PDF of the morning Summit schedule and descriptions of each learning session. Participants are not required to attend the morning Summit to go on the afternoon tour.
This event is sponsored by Pacific Power.
About The Environmental Center:
The Environmental Center’s mission is to embed sustainability into daily life in Central Oregon. We translate sustainability into practical, local action in order to create a healthy future for people and the planet. We are focused on building community, educating kids, revolutionizing energy, rethinking waste, and advocating for change. Learn more at envirocenter.org or by visiting our facility at 16 NW Kansas Ave. in downtown Bend.
