HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Two Oregon buildings are getting national attention for maximum energy-efficiency - and one is passing its benefits on to the next generation.

For three years, Hood River Middle School's unique addition has been where students learn firsthand about creating solar and geothermal energy, saving water, growing food and improving their environment - in a facility packed with self-sustaining systems. It's known as a "Zero Net Energy" building, one of just a couple hundred in the country.

Not a week goes by that someone doesn't stop in to take a tour, said science teacher Michael Becker.

"What's great is that they show up thinking I'm going to lead the tour - and that is not the case. I turn 'em loose with a bunch of kids," Becker said, "and they come back with their chins all scraped up from their jaws dropping open so much, of kids that just blow their minds with a functional vocabulary about systems."

According to a new report from the New Buildings Institute, while the number of Zero Net Energy buildings is still few, it has more than doubled since the group's last tally in 2012. About one-third of the ZNE buildings are schools. The other Oregon example in the report is Painter Hall, in Salem's Pringle Creek community.

Part of what has made Hood River's building work so well, Becker said, is that students are able to monitor the systems, so they see the impact of their everyday habits.

"We have solar systems on all kinds of schools - but no one ever sees them," he said. "They're up on the roof, there's no interaction with it, there's no anything. And so, bringing it into our daily interactions is what changes that behavior and changes that awareness."

He said the idea is that they may end up in all different locations and career fields, but students will take with them the knowledge they'll need to improve the places they live and work - in ways that won't seem out of the ordinary.

"We have a 14,000-gallon rain-catch tank that collects all of our water, and that's what flushes the toilets in the building - and that seems totally normal," he said. "We know how much energy the building's produced and how much we've used, and we look at it on the chart and that's totally normal. And it doesn't seem that far-fetched."

Hood River Middle School has won numerous awards for its science and music building.

The New Buildings Institute report said Zero Net Energy is achievable in all regions and climates - and even in some existing buildings.

The report is online at newbuildings.org.


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Results of a new study from Michigan State University suggest farmers no longer have to choose between growing crops and harnessing solar power. They can do both on the same land.

The 25-year study of California farmland found farmers who added solar panels, a practice known as agrivoltaics, made more money per acre than those who did not. The research shows crops and solar work together, especially when panels are placed on low-yield acres, or spots not growing as much food due to poor soil or too much shade.

The research indicates the approach helps farmers boost income without reducing food production.

Jake Stid, a graduate student at Michigan State and lead author of the study, said farmers can also benefit through a system called Net Energy Metering.

"A return structure where farmers can directly in many cases, interconnect so they can use the electricity to offset their own needs, as well as sell excess generation, excess electricity back to the utility for a discounted rate," Stid outlined.

Researchers estimate California land now used for solar panels could have fed 86,000 people had it stayed in crops. The study looked at the trade-off between farming and solar energy, while critics warned it could worsen food security by reducing farmland.

Stid highlighted his team chose California's Central Valley as the focus of the research due to its significant contribution to both national and global food production, particularly for a variety of orchard crops.

"It's a really, really agriculturally valuable state and it also happens to be a pretty water-stressed state," Stid pointed out. "Specifically, the Central Valley has been experiencing pretty significant drought, as well as over allocation of water resources."

Some farmers expressed concern about solar panels shading crops, affecting growth and reducing yields. Stid hopes to expand his research on solar arrays and food production nationwide, contributing to the ongoing debate among farmers on how to use land sustainably, without harming food production.


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Lawmakers and climate change activists are speaking out against a rumored executive action by President Donald Trump to revoke tax-exempt statuses from climate nonprofits. One rumored change includes the removal of climate change from qualifying topics for the exemption.

Last Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump hinted environmental nonprofits could have their tax-exempt statuses scrutinized by the administration. Federal law currently bars a president from directly or indirectly ordering the Internal Revenue Service to investigate specific tax-exempt organizations.

Ruth Ann Norton, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, said she found the rumored executive actions troubling.

"We should not be talking about removing tax-exempt status from the civic good that comes from the work of nonprofits to prevent environmental issues that impair and impact and are harmful on people's lives," Norton contended.

Climate nonprofits are not the only organizations in Trump's crosshairs. He has suggested Harvard University should lose its tax-exempt status over defying demands from the administration dealing with diversity, admissions processes and antisemitism.

Tax-exempt status allows organizations to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions and not pay federal income tax.

Joelle Novey, director of the nonprofit Interfaith Power and Light in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia, said the actions may target climate nonprofits first but all nonprofits are at risk.

"There is no attack on civil society groups in the United States that isn't an attack on every one of us who expresses who we are by forming, supporting, volunteering and taking action through nonprofit organizations," Novey argued.

A federal judge last week ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze billions of dollars in climate and infrastructure funds previously targeted in an executive order on Trump's first day in office.


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As of today, Earth Day, more than 50 elected officials have signed a letter urging lawmakers to make oil and gas companies bear the cost of climate change.

The California Polluters Pay Superfund, which goes before the state Senate Judiciary Committee today, would assess a fee on large oil and gas companies to pay for programs that mitigate damage from climate change.

Ahmad Zahra, a council member in Fullerton, signed onto the letter sponsored by the group Elected Officials to Protect America.

"Throughout the years, these large oil companies were really not necessarily telling the truth about air pollution," Zahra pointed out. "Just like we've seen in oil spills and ground pollution, the responsible party has to pay for it."

The Western States Petroleum Association opposes the bill, saying it would lead to higher gas prices. The bill directs the California Environmental Protection Agency to determine how much climate change has cost the state from 1990 to 2024. Federal data show California has suffered 46 natural disasters linked to climate change since 1980, each resulting in more than $1 billion in losses, with $250 billion from the Los Angeles firestorm alone.

Marisol Rubio, a council member in San Ramon, said 40% of the funds would be directed to low-income communities most affected by fossil fuel pollution.

"Those funds can then be used to better manage and correct and abate the pollution that not only already exists but that will come inevitably in the future, until we are able to be independent of fossil fuels," Rubio explained.

Advocates said right now, everyday Californians foot the bill for climate change in the form of higher taxes, insurance rates and utility bills, as well as via medical expenses for pollution-related illness.