Hillsboro, OR

Located in the Tualatin Valley, Hillsboro is the 5th largest city in Oregon with a population of just over 100,000. The City has taken aggressive action on energy efficiency and distributed renewable energy generation. Their comprehensive sustainability program includes long term goals for City operations and the broader community, and numerous community partnerships have been developed around sustainability.

The City of Hillsboro’s portfolio consists of over 593,000 square feet across 26 facilities. In 2022, they signed on to the Better Climate Challenge, committing to a 50% reduction in GHG emissions across their city operations by 2029.

The City is a signatory to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and maintains a comprehensive inventory of greenhouse gas emissions for local government operations. In 2005, the City built the 2nd LEED Gold certified municipal building in the country and has completed two additional LEED-certified new buildings since. The City’s first Sustainability Plan, approved by the City Council in 2010, calls for a 60% reduction in City facility energy intensity by the year 2030. Energy efficiency projects completed to date include numerous and ongoing facility lighting retrofits, mechanical system upgrades, and lighting controls. The City has installed over 200 kW of solar generation on their facilities, with more planned, and a complete conversion of all 7,000+ City streetlights is underway and will include lighting controls for dimming during low-traffic times of day.

As part of the Better Buildings Challenge, the City of Hillsboro achieved the goal to reduce its building energy intensity portfolio-wide by 20% by 2020 four years early, in 2016. The new goal is to further reduce energy use 20% by 2025 over 2015 levels.

PORTFOLIO-WIDE LEADERSHIP COMMITMENTS

50% emissions reduction within 10 years

20% reduction in energy intensity

20% reduction in water intensity

Video

Building Resilient Communities: State and Local Perspectives

Webinar

Building Resilient Communities: State and Local Perspectives

Implementation Model

City of Hillsboro, OR: High-Performance Building Partnership for New Development

Tools

Hillsboro Fund Replenishment Process

Tools

Hillsboro Process Diagram

Tools

Hillsboro Project Chart

Tools

Hillsboro Sustainability Revolving Fund Presentation

Tools

Hillsboro Employee Sustainability e-Newsletter

Tools

Hillsboro Sustainability Revolving Fund Process

Tools

Hillsboro 2030 Sustainability Goals

Tools

Hillsboro SRF Issue Paper Brief for Proposed Budget

Showcase Project

City of Hillsboro: Shute Park Library

Presentation

Seize the Day: Turning Building Life-Cycle Milestones into Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Presentation

Seize the Day: Turning Building Life-Cycle Milestones into Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Implementation Model

Hillsboro Sets Up Revolving Fund for Efficiency Projects

Performance Data

Solutions

Leadership Commitments

Better Climate Challenge

Goal

Commitment

Progress

Better Buildings Challenge

Goal

Commitment

Better Buildings Challenge

Additional Goal

Progress

Water Reduction

Goal

Progress

DOE Program Participation