Extreme Heat, Rising Bills, and the Case for Electrification
A longtime friend texted me this past weekend.
“News said there’s a heatwave in Portland. I checked the weather app and it just seems like ‘normal’ Texas temperatures.” He lives on the east coast and has never visited Oregon. This is my second summer in Portland since I moved here from Austin.
“So many ppl up here don’t have AC!” I replied. “Like 25% of Oregon vs 2% of Texas.” He sent back a single emoji: 🥵.
If there’s no relief, extreme heat can be unbearable—even deadly. And weather disasters like these that were considered ‘once-i...
2025 OEC Legislative Debrief
This session, OEC staff worked on more than 77 bills to advance environmental protections, ensure statewide access to clean water, cut toxic chemicals out of our communities, and elevate safe and healthy transportation options.
We delivered real wins for Oregonians, but not every policy took root. Here’s what we passed, where the Legislature fell short, and how we’ll keep pressing forward to serve Oregon’s people, places and environment.
CLIMATE | WATER | TRANSPORTATION | ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
OEC Legislative Debrief 7/9/25
A conversation with ...
A Climate Solution You Can Live In: Q&A on Building Resilience
Sometimes big-impact solutions to the climate crisis can feel beyond our control – other times they’re right within reach, like upgrading our homes and buildings. This Q&A with Brad Reed, Director of Building Resilience, highlights how we can transform our homes and communities into climate-resilient havens. From heat pumps to insulation, Brad explains how basic upgrades can protect our health and our communities, while also saving money on utility bills.This year, Building Resilience is working alongside OEC to pass legislation to give more Oregonians access to ...
The Clean Grid Explained: Key Terms for Understanding How Electricity Moves in Oregon
Clean energy is the backbone for reaching our climate goals and helping to cut climate pollution in buildings, transportation, and industry. In the upcoming 2025 legislative session, OEC will collaborate with partners to keep moving forward on our clean energy goals. As climate-fueled disasters like wildfires, scorching heat, and drought in our own backyard become increasingly hard to ignore, it’s more important than ever that we accelerate our progress.
Enter: The electricity grid. You’ve probably heard the term – though you’re not alone if you ...
2024 Legislative Debrief Video – Right to Repair Becomes Law
On May 6, we hosted our 2024 Virtual Legislative Debrief. The conversation featured Oregon Senator Janeen Sollmon. With her insights, we covered a wide range of topics — from last session’s environmental victories (like Right to Repair and Healthy Homes), to big picture conversations about the trajectory of Oregon’s climate future.
On the Right to Repair legislation, Senator Sollman spoke in detail on what it took to pass the historic consumer electronics policy – now the strongest in the nation. She also outlined what the new law does. (Full video below....
Building Climate Resilience with Better Buildings
Gazing at the downtown skyline of Portland? Rushing through PDX to catch a flight? Lost in the Silicon Forest? You probably aren’t thinking about how to reduce climate emissions. But Oregon’s large office, high-tech and public buildings are one of Oregon’s best opportunities to meet our climate goals by addressing our second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
That’s because the overall “carbon footprint” of those buildings can be huge. Making the steel and concrete to build them is energy intensive. Construction equipment, the choice of materials ...
Checklist: DIY Home Heat Pump Maintenance
Like all heating and cooling systems, proper maintenance helps heat pumps operate at optimal efficiency.
New Initiatives for Safe, Affordable, Climate-Friendly Homes and Buildings
The 2023 legislative session presents a vital opportunity to make progress in achieving our climate goals and protect families and communities from ever-worsening climate impacts. OEC is excited to support a “Building Resilience” policy package this session that will cut pollution and increase the climate resilience of our homes and buildings
Recognizing the vital need to transform and expand Oregon’s building stock in a way that maximizes climate, public health, affordability, and job creation benefits for Oregon, the 2022 legislature established the ...
Eco-Healthy Homes: safer children’s spaces at Hacienda CDC
Many people these days are familiar with the fact that products for the home, from toys to cleaning products, can contain toxic chemicals. This fact alone is cause for concern. But, did you know that women, children, people of color and people living on lower incomes are at a greater risk of toxic chemical exposure? Or that access to consumer safety information may not be available to non-english speakers? Or that, because of their small size, kids are much more vulnerable to the health impacts of exposure to toxic products?
In 2020, OEC partnered with Hacienda CDC, ...
No time to burn: let’s keep the future of gas short in Oregon
By: Nora Apter, the Climate Program Director for Oregon Environmental Council. Greer Ryan, Oregon Clean Buildings Policy Manager with Climate Solutions.
When it comes to global warming pollution, we’ve heard a lot about the dangers of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But did you know that methane, the primary ingredient in so-called “natural” gas, is approximately 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 20 year timeframe? Fossil “natural” gas is far from being the safe, clean product that gas utilities ...
