Top stories of 2011: Hope, innovation and, yes, scandal

View photo gallery (3 photos)

What does the list of the top 10 stories on Sustainable Business Oregon for 2010 tell us about our audience?

They like to read about innovations in sustainability, how the news of the day is going to affect their pocketbook and they're not opposed to a bit of scandal.

Happy new year!

Top 10 most-viewed stories on Sustainable Business Oregon:

1. Burgerville cans its sustainability director

The unexpected termination in August of Burgerville's high-profile sustainability director, Alison Dennis, was a popular read. Dennis later landed a job at Portland State University where she'll lead the school's Center for Global Leadership starting in January.

2. Eco-districts take center stage

The Portland Sustainability Institute started in 2010 to float a plan for eco-districts to take root in Portland. The concept of community scale planning for transportation, renewable energy and sustainable urban development received an overview during the institute's EcoDistricts Summit 2010 in October. Our story raised questions about how eco-district development might be funded and implemented.

3. Oregon company to build paper houses in Haiti and beyond

Haiti's tragic earthquake, which struck in January, generated many world headlines in 2010. One Oregon company rose to the top of our headline list with their green building technique of recycling paper in the building material. Pacific Green Innovations set out to build 1,000 of the homes in Haiti.

4. Vestas ready to hire in the U.S.

When Vestas announced in August that it would keep its headquarters in Portland and move into a renovated building in the Pearl District, that was great news for Portland's economy. But it's perhaps an economic indicator that the more popular was news that the Danish wind company was ready to expand its employee roster in the United States.

5. PGE seeks 7.4 percent rate increase

PGE's wrangling with regulators over plans to close its coal-fired generation plant in Boardman was a fixture in SBO headlines during 2010. But when it comes time to pay the bills, a rate increase is news.

6. Keen's new green line set to launch, Portland store to open

It's one of Portland's most beloved brands, so when we broke the news that Keen was debuting a new line of ultra-green shoes and getting ready to open a store in Portland's Pearl District, it was a hit with our readers.

7. More than just a pretty roof: Ecoroofs save cash

The city of Portland increased its incentives for ecoroofs and spurred development of the green roofs this year. We wrote about the new green roof at the Ecotrust building and the combined use of ecoroof and solar technology, but it was our story on ecoroofs and the bottom line which got the most traffic.

8. Port of Portland HQ named among the world's greenest

From being named a greenest city to being home to the greenest architecture firms, Portland stakes out spots on many lists of sustainability-related superstars. But it was the Port of Portland's gorgeous new headquarters which received the most attention from our readers after it made a Forbes magazine list of the world's greenest buildings.

9. Beaverton's Sage Green boasts net-zero homes

The passive house standard and net-zero buildings were both hot topics on the green building front in 2010. The Sage Green neighborhood development in Beaverton received attention for its reasonable prices and attractive floor plans in addition to claims of net-zero energy needs. Is Sage Green the first net-zero community? Maybe not. But it offers a compelling value proposition for home buyers.

10. FTC to toughen anti-greenwashing rules

Our story in June highlighted the fact that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was getting ready to update its rules designed to guard consumers from greenwashing claims. The updated "Green Guides" were issued in October.

christinawilliams@bizjournals.com | 503.219.3438