Portland, Oregon’s largest city, is considered to be one of the greenest cities in therncountry. Half of its power comes from renewable sources, it boasts the most LEED-certifiedrnbuildings per capita in the nation, and it has the highest rate of bicycle commuting of any majorrnU.S. city (ACS 2006). Despite this, only 38 residential solar electric systems were installed inrn2008. San Francisco, a larger but similarly green city, saw 168 installations in the same year.rnIn 2009, Energy Trust of Oregon1 collaborated with Southeast Uplift NeighborhoodrnCoalition to create Solarize Portland-a community driven, group purchase initiative to helprnresidents overcome the financial and logistical hurdles of going solar. The project effectivelyrnmerged community activism and education, smart marketing, green job creation, and economiesrnof scale to drive a high volume of participation. The effort was an unprecedented success,rnresulting in 120 new photovoltaic (PV) systems in six months-more than three times thernnumber of systems installed in the city of Portland in 2008.
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