YIMBY Portland

10/04/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/18SqQCKkRc/?mibextid=wwXIfr

"Denmark is wrapping solar panels around the sides of buildings — and turning facades into power plants.

Building-integrated photovoltaics — BIPV — are transforming Danish urban architecture. Solar panels are replacing conventional cladding on office buildings, apartment towers, and car park structures across Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense. The panels serve dual purpose: weatherproofing the building envelope while generating electricity from the same surface. A south-facing glass facade on a Copenhagen office block receives enough solar radiation to cover 15 to 25% of the building's annual electricity demand — from the walls alone, without using a single square metre of roof.

The Mørkhøj Facade project in Copenhagen installed 1,200 square metres of coloured BIPV panels across a social housing block, reducing the building's grid electricity consumption by 30% while improving its thermal insulation performance simultaneously. The Copcap car park in the capital replaced its concrete cladding with solar panels on every south, east, and west face, generating 500 megawatt-hours annually from what was previously waste surface. Danish architects now treat solar as a material specification choice, not an add-on technology.

Denmark's building regulations were updated in 2023 to require BIPV feasibility assessment for all new commercial buildings above 1,000 square metres. Every new building in Denmark now starts its design process as a potential power station.

Source: Danish Energy Agency, Building-Integrated Solar Report 2023

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10/02/2026

With HUD gutted and many provisions contingent on future congressional funding, experts say the law's ambitions may outpace its implementation.

10/02/2026

Community Gardens, Affordable Housing, Workforce Housing. What to do with land reclaimed in the Franklin Street redesign?
Such debates are often frequently framed in a way that pits two stakeholders against each other. Good policy making, good decision making can always be striving to find points of consensus, framing an issue so that as many as possible see that their interests are valued, and fairly balanced with the interests of others.
This is an early draft of a potential treatment for land reclaimed between a new Franklin Street and the existing communbity gardens and park. The Portland Planning Dept. gracioulsy shared this with us.
We see the similarities with the FRA road diet concept. The housing gain is significant.

Ultimately, these decisions will be made in the future. The current concpet design is just that, a concept. The upcoming Preliminary Design Review will go over things with a finer tooth comb, tease out next issues to address, and highlight decions that need to be made. Some of those decisions, like land use, will come to the City Council. Ideally, all these decisions are made with input from the public, and communication with the public about the tradeoffs- why certain decisions are being made.
It's helpful to see the study team exploring different ideas and working to grapple with important design issues.

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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10/01/2026

As Portland Public Schools contends with low enrollment and utilization at its three middle schools, an external facilities study showed significantly worse conditions at the Deering Center school.

09/29/2026

Springworks Farm, a major regional producer of greenhouse grown lettuce, has shuttered and is selling its sprawling Lisbon headquarters.

Broker Mike Carey said in a press release that the 168-acre campus including greenhouses, support buildings and a farmhouse will be sold in a "lender-ordered" auction in mid-October.

"The glass is up, the boilers are in, the packing line is there, and none of that has to be permitted, financed or built," Carey stated in the release. "A buyer who knows what a greenhouse costs to put in the ground today will understand the opportunity the minute they walk the property," he added.

The landline at Springworks was disconnected and no company representative responded to an email Tuesday seeking more information.

Lisbon Economic Development Director Ross Cunningham declined to comment about the company's status on Tuesday.

The Maine Technology Institute, where Springworks received a $300,000 grant for expansion six years ago, did not respond to a request for information about the company.

Springworks was founded in 2014 as an aquaponic farm that grew lettuce and fish with a recirculating indoor water system. The company said its method significantly reduced resource inputs while allowing it to grow greens all year round. Its customers included Hannaford and Whole Foods supermarkets.

According to its website Springworks could grow five million heads of lettuce and 160 metric tons of tilapia a year.

✍️: Peter McGuire/Maine Public
📸: Mike Carey/Tranzon Auction Properties

09/29/2026