Corvallis, Oregon is Truly an Eco-Friendly Town

The Corvallis Farmers Market

There are a few eco-friendly, or green, town in the United States.  One of them almost always comes out around the top of any list.  It is Corvallis, Oregon.  Corvallis is home to Oregon State University. That is the Beavers, not the Ducks. Corvallis is about 80 miles south of Portland and has a population of around 51,000. What makes Corvallis such a green place to live? Let me explain.

Oregon State University already has three LEED certified buildings on campus and six more meet LEED criteria. All new construction must be built to at least LEED Silver standards and major renovations must be built to LEED Certified standards.   There are 20 sustainability and environment oreiented student groups on campus that all collaborate through the Sustainability Coalition. The campus runs a bicycle repair service available to all students at no cost. The campus is restricted to service and transit vehicles and students, faculty, and staff are provided passes for all four transit systems on campus.

According to OregonLive.com, Corvallis won a $492,000 grant to educate residents and businesses on the finer points of reducing energy use and carbon emissions.  Corvallis has been known as a great place to grow grass but now there is a trend to go toward growing organic red wheat, oats, legumes, and flax.  There is a large Framers Market that opened on April 16th and is open every Saturday through November 19th from 9 AM to 1 PM where you can buy the local produce.  There is a Wednesday market too.  By the way, OSU purchases 35% of the food they use from local sources too.

In 2008, residents of Corvallis participated in the Corvallis Energy Challenge where they learned to boost energy efficiency and control energy costs.  The US Environmental Protection Agency awarded Corvallis the 2010 Green Power Leadership Award in recognition of its efforts to helping advance the development of the nation's voluntary green power market.  Green power is electricity that is generated from renewable resources.  Those resources are wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydro.  It is important to know that these resources generate electricity with a net zero increase in carbon dioxide emissions while being better than traditional power generation sources.

If you want to see a truly green town, Corvallis is the place to visit.