We Pacific Northwesterners have a certain reputation for committing to environmental sustainability. Driving at 55 to save gas—in a 60-MPH zone. Giving our used hair ties and yogurt tubs away on our neighborhood's Buy Nothing Facebook group. Can you compost it? We'll sure try!
When it comes to pursuing energy efficiency in the name of sustainability, PDX is just like your household, only ... a lot bigger.
We all know that it takes a lot of energy to move people and goods in the sky, so we’re always looking for ways to save energy on the ground. The architects and engineers who designed the new main terminal have enabled us to increase its size by 40% while cutting the energy the building needs per square foot by more than half. We’re also installing one of the largest heat pumps in Oregon.
Here’s how we’ve scaled your household efficiencies way, way up:
Installing a heat pump?
So are we! Only ours taps into the aquifer to heat and cool the airport.
PDX’s heating plant, powered by natural gas and oil, currently uses steam to heat the airport. That will change in 2025, when our new ground-source heat pump is up and running.
PAE has designed one of the largest heat pumps in Oregon, which we’re in the process of installing. The system uses electricity to pump 55-degree water from the Troutdale Sandstone Aquifer through heat exchangers. Then it sends the water back 500 feet below the earth’s surface—without bringing the groundwater into contact with anything that could contaminate the aquifer.
The result: Cutting the heating plant’s use of fossil fuels by 95% and halving our energy costs.
Never leave a room without turning off the light?
We've wrapped the main terminal in windows so the sun does all the work.
According to Jake Dunn, sustainability coordinator at ZGF Architects, the new main terminal will be lit by approximately 7,800 LED bulbs. That sounds like a lot of wattage, but it’s 50% fewer lightbulbs than the Oregon electrical code limits. The sun makes up the difference — thanks to 50 skylights and a 36-foot-high window wall.
Not only will daylight illuminate 60% of the terminal (even under January's cloudy skies), we’ve made the windows out of high-performance glass to reduce the heat from solar rays. ZGF has strategically placed steel trellises on the exterior, as well as vertical “fins” and lattices all around, to block the strongest rays during certain times of day.
Do you buy reclaimed building materials from the ReBuilding Center?
We’re upcycling the old main terminal and building a new one around it.
We’ve built the main terminal’s new, nine-acre roof out of local, sustainably sourced wood. What’s even more sustainable than that? Using what we’ve already got.
Rather than build a new main terminal from the ground up, ZGF removed only part of the existing structure, repurposing the old concourse connector and renovating the rest. For the new construction, they chose sustainably sourced wood, “green” concrete, and other building materials. The result of all these choices: reducing the carbon footprint of the materials in the project's structure by 70%.
(Extra: Read how a former ReBuilding Center manager recycled our scrap plywood to make new walls.)
Have you been scoping out low-flow toilets?
We’re outfitting seven multi-user bathrooms with dozens of water-conserving fixtures.
When you’re building an airport capable of welcoming 50% more people a year by 2045, it’s no small matter to pick bathroom fixtures that can withstand constant use—and cut our water bill. The toilets, sinks, and urinals that the engineers at PAE helped PDX test and select require between 15% and 50% less water. In addition, we’ll soon start using our own well water to flush the toilets and urinals.
By the time 35 million people a year travel through PDX, each visitor will use 50% less water from Portland’s potable-water supply.
Tom Strong - Chief Executive Officer, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Washington
"We're foresters in that we're stewards," says Tom Strong, Chief Executive Officer of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which manages 2,000 acres of Washington forests for its 800 tribal members. "We're not cutting and planting, seeking to develop our lands into a commodity. Instead, we're doing it to restore the forest."
Over the past 100 years, the two dams on the North Fork Skokomish River have had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of Skokomish land. "We want to restore the entire Hood Canal watershed," Tom says. The forests are just one part.
Selling wood from Douglas fir trees the tribe selectively thinned will help fund this restoration. "We don't have an endless amount of money," Tom says. "But we would like to think we've got an endless amount of time."
Ben Hayes - Co-owner, Hyla Woods, Cherry Grove, Oregon
Ben Hayes is a sixth-generation forester who manages Hyla Woods, outside Cherry Grove, Oregon, with his father, Peter. He is also a sustainable-forestry consultant. At Hyla Woods, the Hayes experiment with selective thinning and patch cutting, instead of clear-cutting, to foster diversity of tree species, ages, and sizes.
"When you look 100 years out, having greater complexity in terms of species and the structure of the forest, you can increase the forest's resilience in the face of extreme weather and drought," he says.
"We're working toward a model of forestry that you could practice for the perpetual future,” Ben says. “It's a model that lifts up both rural and urban communities and the ecosystems we rely on."
Richard and Ann Hanschu - Owners, Doneen, Forest Grove, Oregon
Ann Hanschu's father first bought land outside Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1956. Ann grew up trailing her father around the forest, learning from him. The Hanschus now have three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Richard says, "We're planting trees that our grandchildren will see the profits from — not even our children. It's long-range thinking."
"A lot of the timber is older,” Ann adds. “We're laddering it with trees of different age groups — some 30-40 years old, some 10-20 years old — so the land can continue to produce a sustainable amount of wood."
Herman Flamenco - Central Cascades Conservation Forester, The Nature Conservancy, Cle Elum, Washington
"We know historically that the stands we're working on were overstocked," says Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades conservation forester for the Nature Conservancy, of the 50,000 acres outside Cle Elum, Washington, the organization manages. Thinning the trees welcomes in light and biodiversity.
Some loggers in the region worry that this low-impact approach to forestry yields less lumber, and less profit, than clear-cutting. One local outfit took on this labor-intensive challenge, selectively harvesting Doug fir trees from steep slopes.
"Western Washington is wetter. In our dry climate, there's less moisture and increased fire risk," Herman says. "As we look at climate change, it's just going to get dryer. We want to make sure we can keep our forests around."
In the 1950s, back when people wore fancy hats to the airport, PDX’s main terminal had brown terrazzo floors.
By the 1970s, blue carpet sporting the old Port of Portland logo replaced the terrazzo. The airport was so concerned about keeping the carpet clean that we banned gum-chewing indoors.
In the 1980s, PDX replaced the ski-chalet paneling in the Clocktower Plaza with high ceilings and skylights, but kept the blue carpet.
SRG Partnership, a Portland-based architecture firm, designed the pattern for the now-iconic carpet on the layout of the airport runways.
The Clocktower Plaza, post-1988, with the iconic carpet.
The Clocktower Plaza (before its demolition in 2021-22) with the new carpet.
The flexible interior spaces were designed with the future of travel in mind — and to give you plenty of comfortable spots to recharge before your next flight.
Two permanent installations from acclaimed contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto hang like clouds above the concourse’s common areas.
Shops and restaurants are clustered together like city blocks, with a pedestrian-friendly scale and lots of room to spread out.
PDX’s swanky new bar, Juliett, honors women in aviation with mid-20th-century style, top-class cocktails, and local wines and beers.
Sky-high windows fill the interior with daylight while maximizing the concourse extension’s energy efficiency.
At the east end of the concourse, a wall of windows opens up this epic view of Mt. Hood, where you’ll definitely want to pose for a photo before takeoff.
The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.
Remember the view of Mt. Hood on Concourse E? It’s coming back, brighter than ever.
Tillamook’s menu includes the best of the classics with fried cheese curds and a signature grilled cheese.
Calliope takes its name from one of Oregon’s native hummingbirds and showcases creative and playful keepsakes.
Grab your favorite book, magazine or newspaper at Your Northwest Travel Mart.
Concourse B's 38-foot-high ceilings and 6,900 square feet of windows don't just let light in. They let you watch the airport in action. "I think this airport gave us a chance to celebrate the romance of flight," says Gene Sandoval of ZGF, the architecture firm that designed the new concourse.
ZGF Architects was inspired to bring the Pacific Northwest’s natural world indoors. You can contemplate the plants hanging from the ceiling and the Oregon white-oak walls as you relax in B’s comfy new seats. (Bonus: More power adapters!)
RYAN! Feddersen’s art installation, which fills the concourse, is made up of three interconnected pieces. The “Sentinel” landscapes and abstract “Habitat Tiles” are pictured here.
RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and landscape for these pieces, which include the gently rolling “Cloud Walk” overhead.
Nicole and David Mouton, in partnership with HMSHost, opened an outpost of Portland’s beloved Screen Door Restaurant on Concourse B. Find Screen Door’s legendary fried chicken and waffles here from breakfast until dinnertime.
Sam and Nick Purvis, the brothers behind Good Coffee, source fresh coffee beans and teas from all over the world. Pick up a pastry or a bag of beans, too!
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
Perez Westbrooks' colorful digital mural celebrates Northwest flora.
Ben Butler's swirling wood sculpture is made from reclaimed Douglas fir.
The new facility also adds 30 ADA parking spots, more than 30 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,200 long-term parking spaces to the airport.
Adding more lanes to our new, relocated exit toll plaza helps you leave PDX more quickly.
Every design decision we make is about keeping the heart and soul of PDX intact. You’ll see homages to all the things you love about our city and region in the new airport designs.
You’ll notice subtle nods to the Pacific Northwest landscape throughout the space. Natural light, living trees, and native Oregon foliage may give you the feeling of walking through a park.
The new terminal’s wooden ceiling, made from sustainably grown, local Doug fir, might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
This will be your new view when entering the spacious ticket lobby at PDX. The nine-acre wood roof is so distinctive you’ll be able to spot it from the air.
The ripples and currents of pristine Northwest rivers inspired the new terminal’s curvy profile.
Expanding the heart of PDX creates more space for our beloved local shops and restaurants — not to mention local humans (and visitors, too).