KC Light Rail

A new station that's part of a Portland MAX light rail extension will feature wind turbines, solar panels, salvaged materials, and bio-filtration of storm water run-off.

The wind turbines — designed and manufactured in Oregon and perched atop the catenary poles near the station — will generate 275 watts. The solar array will generate 50 kilowatts, enough to run all lighting on site. The bio-filtration allows the station to be untethered from the city's storm water system.

The new station is part of the publicly-funded MAX light rail system, not the public-private Portland Streetcar system — an urban circulator — that serves the central city.

A common complaint about light rail is that the construction impact trumps any reduction in pollution or congestion realized by increased transit ridership. Projects like this address that complaint. However, opponents who trumpet the construction impact of light rail rarely include the manufacture of cars or the production and supply chain impacts of oil and gasoline in their estimates.