It is not a secret that the U.S. Department of Defense has started investing more time – and money – in pursuit of sustainability initiatives.

In April, the department set some of the most aggressive renewable energy goals in history: The Air Force, Army and Navy are now committed to deployment of three gigawatts of solar, wind, biomass and geothermal by 2025.

For clean technology companies around the country, that commitment to renewable energy could be a golden opportunity.

Bill Boyk, a Banks resident whose background includes military service and work in the solar industry, is one of many entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize on the Defense Department’s shift to clean energy. In 2008, he began developing a dual-axis solar tracking system designed for remote and off-grid installations.

Boyk, who served in the National Guard for six years, says solar power could save lives by reducing the number of fuel shipments needed in active military zones.

“In Afghanistan, fuel convoys become targets,” Boyk said. “The military is looking in all directions for ways to reduce the demand for those fuel deliveries.”

His company, which is a regional semifinalist in the national Cleantech Open business competition, operates under the name of . The small startup is now seeking financial investment in its third patent-pending prototype, which uses a GPS system to rotate the panels in relation to the sun’s location in the sky. Boyk says the portable Ameristar system generates up to 40 percent more power than fixed panels.

Ameristar’s solar tracker also has a low center of gravity, which increases the system’s stability when it’s mounted on rough terrain. In addition, a simple racking system reduces installation time and ongoing maintenance needs. These qualities, according to Boyk, make the technology ideal for deployment on cargo containers, steep hillsides, ocean pontoons and other rugged landscapes.

“You can take this solar equipment onto a site, set it up in an hour, and put a big dent in the need for gas and diesel,” he said.

The Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition, an association of mostly manufacturing and technology firms, in April hosted its first event to focus specifically on the growing clean tech sector.

“(Clean energy) is one of the top priorities of the Department of Defense,” said Sean Murphy, executive director of the coalition. “Finding more clean energy resources is a national security issue, so we need to try to connect these people.”

Boyk attended the PNDC clean tech symposium, in Bremerton, Wash. There, he was encouraged by military officials who verified the demand for products like his solar tracking system. The Marines’ special forces, for example, may be interested in portable solar systems to generate power for telecommunications systems, Boyk said.

And if the Defense Department were to identify a need, major investment would likely follow. The department increased its investment in clean energy by a staggering 300 percent between 2006 and 2009, according to a 2011 report from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Not only did the amount of investment jump from $400 million to $1.2 billion in that three-year period, but the report also projected spending to surpass $10 billion annually by 2030.

Promises by the deep-pocketed Defense Department to invest in clean technology are positive signs for startups like Ameristar.

“There are a whole lot of companies doing this type of work out there,” Murphy said. “Sometimes it comes down to timing (and) sometimes it’s knowing the right people, but there are a lot of opportunities out there right now.”

Nevertheless, Boyk is continuing to look for opportunities in various markets for his fledgling company.

“Right now this has been solely financed by us,” he said. “We’re still those struggling entrepreneurs with a great idea.”

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Before fleeing to Oregon, Miodrag Ognjenovic owned a company that installed security systems in buildings in his native Yugoslavia.

But bitter ethnic conflicts and violence in the 1990s tore apart the country, which is still reeling. Ognjenovic was one of the thousands of refugees from Sarajevo, which is now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who left it all behind.

“It’s all gone – there’s no reason to go back,” he said.

Ognjenovic ran his company in Sarajevo until April 1992, when the war made it too difficult to run a business. At that time, he said, his only concern was how to survive and save his family.

But in Oregon in 1999, he founded another company – .

“I’m a fighter,” Ognjenovic said. “I’ve had a passion for electronics for a long time, but making something happen has got to be a long-term thing.”

NADAC Systems began by installing access controls and data cables. The work supplemented Ognjenovic’s efforts for Multnomah County; in fact, he continues to test security and life safety equipment for the county.

The U.S. provided Ognjenovic a fresh start, but challenges too. He struggled to perfect his English and encountered competition from existing installers. Eventually he started searching for a gap in the market, and in 2006 he began developing a complete key management system that integrates with existing building controls.

Ognjenovic earned a patent, and is now finalizing design of a control system that not only increases building security, but also can create significant energy savings. And with more state and local governments creating benchmarks and incentives to reduce energy use in buildings, NADAC Systems may be in good position to profit.

The system, called Smart Dragon, has already caught the eye of Slobodan Petrovic, an associate professor at the Oregon Institute of Technology.

“Energy efficiency is becoming more and more important,” Petrovic said. “(NADAC Systems) could have significant applications in green buildings.”

Smart Dragon is targeted for use in government buildings, airports, college campuses, and other commercial buildings with complex controls. When it’s incorporated into existing systems, Smart Dragon streamlines several applications – including key management, access control, and time and attendance.

But it’s Smart Dragon’s potential to create energy savings that excites Petrovic and others about the prospects for NADAC Systems. Unlike most building controls, Smart Dragon can recognize who is in a building, and then distribute energy based on real occupancy.

When an employee walks into a large office building, for example, Smart Dragon “knows” the location of the person’s workspace and can turn on heating, cooling and lighting only in that particular area. Ognjenovic’s initial projections show that this level of integration could reduce energy consumption in buildings by more than 40 percent.

Petrovic is creating a project in conjunction with a major building management company and NADAC Systems that could verify these energy-efficiency claims. If the deal were to come together, OIT renewable energy engineering students would conduct more tests and help commercialize Smart Dragon.

NADAC Systems also is a semifinalist for the Pacific Northwest region in the national Cleantech Open competition. Ognjenovic hopes that will be a springboard to help him secure the $300,000 still needed to finalize Smart Dragon software. He also expects to seek $500,000 to $800,000 more to devise a market approach and make NADAC Systems profitable.

“I’ve already done a lot of the work,” he said. “Many people that came from my area got here and weren’t able to find enough strength to move a little forward. I have some good ideas and some bad ideas, but I see that this system can be a great benefit.”

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Toward the end of summer 2007, Jeff Gilbert, then a technical engineer at Intel, was relaxing on a cruise in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when he was struck with an idea that changed the course of his life.

As the ship’s stacks blew out exhaust from the engines, kitchens and elevators, it dawned on Gilbert that there might be a way to turn those emissions – and wasted air flowing from all sorts of systems – into electricity.

When he returned to Oregon, Gilbert started looking seriously into the idea and was happy to find that no one else seemed to be developing the sort of energy recovery and generation technology that he had in mind.

“A lot of people are looking into energy efficiency technology, but we’re the first ones to also create electricity,” he said.

Gilbert founded later that year, and has since earned a U.S. patent for a device that connects to existing HVAC systems and converts exhaust into electricity.

“There aren’t any competing technologies, but we’ll be competing for the same energy efficiency dollars,” Gilbert said. “Others just save energy, though; we provide a choice for what to do with it.”

The patented Exhaust Capturing Electrical Regeneration Device (ECERD) is essentially a group of mini wind turbines that mount onto cooling towers, vents or fan decks. When the exhaust from a building’s HVAC system blows out, the device turns that by-product, which Gilbert calls “synthetic wind energy,” into electricity.

“Wind is blowing out of these systems and being wasted,” said Mike Gilbert, Jeff’s brother and the company’s executive vice president. “We wanted to know: How can you capture that?”

To answer that question, Mike Gilbert said they were “operating under the cloak of darkness” for years as they tested their ideas. It wasn’t until their first patent was approved in September 2011 that the Gilberts began spreading the word about Regenergy365.

“That’s when we knew we really had something on our hands,” he said.

Hopes are definitely high for Regenergy365: The Gilberts have already given up successful careers in the building industries to commit to the new venture. Jeff left Intel in 2010, and Mike ended a 12-year run as a residential architect.

The Gilberts’ father, Chris, spent his career manufacturing components for wind turbines and is now president of Regenergy365.

By combining their expertise and bringing in financial and communications specialists, the Gilberts hope that Regenergy365 can significantly reduce energy that’s wasted in HVAC systems around the world.

The ECERD technology may be best suited for heavy energy users such as data centers, hospitals, high-tech manufacturing facilities, and other commercial and industrial buildings. Because such facilities have HVAC systems that run 24/7, the small amount of electricity generated by each mini turbine would add up to create noticeable reductions in operating costs.

The electricity could either be fed back into the facility and consumed immediately or stored for times it is needed most. The Gilberts are also working with a lithium ion battery company from the Midwest to develop a customized battery system to sell along with their device.

“The next layer of energy efficiency is really in energy storage,” Mike Gilbert said. “It’s really a hot little market.”

The startup was recently named a regional semifinalist in the business competition. The team is hoping to partner with Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center, or possibly Intel, to continue testing its product.

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When compared to some of the super high-tech gadgets that are defining the growing “clean tech” sector, soil microbiology may sound a bit dull. But a startup in Corvallis is finding some exciting new applications for its soil-altering technology.

was established in 2004 after spinning out of Oregon State University’s soil biology lab. The company tests soil and also sells products to help repair land damaged by industrial waste or excessive fertilization. Vineyards in California, coffee plantations in Guatemala and tomato farms in Mexico are among Earthfort’s recent clients.

But a small Japanese city near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant recently expressed interest in another application for Earthfort’s services: reducing the spread of radioactive material following a nuclear disaster.

When a devastating tsunami struck Japan in March 2011, the ensuing nuclear accident led to far-reaching health and safety concerns. One of the long-term fears surrounds food production. Several studies have taken place to determine whether vegetables and other food grown in Japan are safe to eat, but results are varied.

Research published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences last year suggests that the spread of radioactive isotopes into land surrounding the plant is likely to severely impair food production.

That’s where Earthfort comes in.

The eight-person company recently signed a letter of commitment with a Japanese company that is working with the government to come up with ways to limit the movement of Cesium-137. It’s a radioactive element that can linger in the environment for decades following a nuclear meltdown.

Researchers have found that the area surrounding Fukushima had levels of Cesium-137 that exceeded official government limits for arable land.

“Everything we do is related to the repair and remediation of soil, but the radiation issues are more glamorous than an over-fertilized field,” said Scott Smith, Earthfort’s CEO.

Here in Oregon, OSU’s nuclear engineering and radiation health physics department tested Earthfort’s product to see whether it could stop a more benign version of the radioactive material from traveling into groundwater or entering radishes grown in tainted soil.

The results are promising, according to Kathryn Higley, professor and department head.

“You can’t destroy radiation; that’s not physically possible. But if you can block it from getting into crops or keep it from moving down into the groundwater – that’s a really good thing,” she said. “That’s why this product is interesting.”

The data suggests that Earthfort’s product prevents nearly half of the radioactive Cesium-137 from entering plants and significantly reduces its movement through the soil.

With such promising results, Earthfort’s president and lab director, Matt Slaughter, is already considering long-term plans to work with the areas of the Ukraine still being impacted by the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and in other countries with nuclear capabilities.

But for now, the company, a Northwest semifinalist in the business competition, is focusing on its work to help American farmers produce food more efficiently and with less environmental impact.

“We have huge opportunities in several areas, and we’re exploring them all,” Slaughter said. “It’s been a fun journey.”

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For a product not yet on the market, the one-wheeled electric motorcycle developed by has already sparked a lot of attention.

The motorcycle was featured on the Discovery Channel. It also appeared in episodes of “Portlandia” and “Leverage,” two series that are filmed in Portland, where RYNO Motors is based.

“Whoever rides it looks like a rock star,” said Chris Hoffmann, the bike’s inventor. “It has global appeal.”

But Hoffmann’s goals for the electric unicycle, which is expected to reach the market in early 2013, are far loftier than simply making people using it stand out on the street. He and others in the electric vehicle industry believe that his invention can help fill the gaps that exist in urban transportation.

“It’s a good example of the type of innovative, out-of-the-box products coming out of companies here in Oregon,” said James Mast, a local electric vehicle consultant. “These next-generation-type vehicles are thinking beyond four wheels and figuring out how we can change the dynamic in the transportation space.”

Like a Segway scooter, the bike is self-balancing, and city codes will permit riders on sidewalks at speeds of 12.5 miles per hour. So the RYNO bike can help make it easier to get around a downtown area or speed up travel time to a bus or train stop.

But in terms of power, RYNO’s six-horsepower vehicle can kick it into a higher gear; Hoffmann likens it to a John Deere tractor. The bike is permitted to travel on streets at 20 mph, and for off-road use, the scooter can reach 25 miles per hour.

“It’s got the guts to carry heavy riders and to make it up serious hills,” he said. “When you put it all together, it’s easy and fun to ride and really ideal for people in a city.”

And with an expected retail price of $4,500, the RYNO will be cost competitive with other electric scooters.

The idea for the one-wheeled motorcycle actually came from Hoffmann’s daughter, who saw one in a video game. Hoffmann, who previously worked in the automotive industry, had never seen anything like it. About five years ago, he enlisted a software developer and took on the challenge.

The first prototype, however, was “totally unrideable.”

“We got stuck,” he said. “I knew that if we couldn’t do this really, really simply, we shouldn’t do it at all.”

Now the steering geometry uses accelerometers and gyroscopes to accelerate, brake, and help maintain balance. The commercial model will have full suspension, a removable battery, and a larger seat than the early prototypes.

Extensive testing has been an important business strategy for RYNO Motors, although it was difficult to resist early demands for the bike. One person offered to buy two bikes for $25,000 each, but Hoffmann strategically resisted the temptation to go to market too soon.

“We’re just keeping our heads down,” he said. “There’s a temptation to build and sell some bikes, but we don’t want to get bogged down in that hand-sold ride space; the whole strategy must be scalable.”

Hoffmann is now working to raise $1 million to hire a full-time marketing team and to sell the first wave of 20 bikes. Meanwhile, RYNO is redesigning the bike for high-volume manufacturing and will then work to raise $5 million to $6 million more in order to start up a supply chain in Portland.

RYNO Motors is also a semifinalist for the Pacific Northwest region in the Cleantech Open, a national competition that aims to identify and help fund entrepreneurs who are trying to address energy and environmental challenges.

Regional award winners will be announced in October, but networking with other electric vehicle startups has already inspired Hoffmann with some new ideas. He noted that a lot of startups are working to develop ride-share software so that travelers who are going in the same direction can connect with each other and ride together rather than use extra resources to travel independently.

“That’s going to start really emerging – there are a lot of different opportunities for us to cross-pollinate with other companies,” he said.

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Every year, investors pour billions of dollars into buildings that they do not – and cannot – fully understand.

The construction and architecture industries are taking strides toward sustainable practices and technology. But without reliable data to demonstrate the benefits that come along with high-performance buildings, investors and developers have been hard-pressed to leverage truly sustainable projects.

At least that’s the claim underlying an ambitious project called “The Economics of Change.”

The four-year project, which started in April 2011, aims to transform the built landscape within the next few decades by shifting conventional real estate investment methods.

Stuart Cowan, a partner in Portland-based firm , is working on the project with experts from Seattle’s Bullitt Foundation, global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, and Tacoma-based nonprofit Earth Economics. The International Living Future Institute, which runs the world’s most challenging green building certification system, the Living Building Challenge, also joined the group this year.

“We’re seeing a huge trend that investors, lenders, appraisers and developers want to understand buildings more comprehensively,” Cowan said.

As it stands, environmental and social benefits are ignored in real estate investment models. Even energy-use savings, which can be demonstrated with relative ease, are not necessarily incorporated in a typical appraisal.

To that end, the group published last year that includes a prototype for a new investment pro forma model. Unlike traditional pro formas, the integrated investment model will offer information such as the cost premiums or savings for specific green features, tax credits and deductions, reduced utility or insurance costs, and pricing to reflect the market prestige of green buildings.

“We need to link together all of the different segments of valuation,” Cowan said. “Every industry attempts to measure its environmental and social impacts. Why not go into the market and see how that impacts prices?”

The group ultimately hopes the model will serve as an incentive for responsible, restorative buildings and infrastructure.

In July, research and development of the integrated investment model will begin in earnest. The pro forma then will be tested on two or three case study buildings before the group attempts to create a large-scale adoption of the new investment model and policy frameworks.

“In the big picture, there are huge social and environmental forms of value, but we’re not making good decisions given our carbon-constrained world,” Cowan said. “We need to understand the full picture and let that drive investment.” – Lindsey O’Brien

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The first water-sports “cable park” west of Texas may soon be built in Hood River, according to the Portland-based developers who are hoping to build the $1 million attraction as part of a larger, waterfront development.

 is working through the permitting of a $15 million project that will include an 88-room Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel and a 20,000-square-foot mixed-use building near downtown Hood River. Within the adjacent lagoon known as Nichols Basin, the plan includes a 10-acre cable park, which is a system of towers, pulleys, and obstacles that creates a course for wake-boarders and water-skiers to zip around the water without being tugged by a boat.

“I really believe in this thing,” developer Will Naito said of the parks, which are most popular in Europe, although a few outposts exist in Florida and Texas. “Once you dig into it, you can see what a fun form of recreation it is.”

Naito says he first heard about cable parks when an anonymous caller asked the developers about the possibility of building one in Nichols Basin. The development firm, comprised of Naito and his father Bob, has owned the 5.27 acres next to the basin since 2006. But the economic downturn and environmental cleanup delayed initial plans.

The market for a hotel in Hood River is strong, according to Bob Naito, who has secured financing for the project through the EB-5 investment visa program. The program rewards foreigners who invest in a job-creating American enterprise by offering them permanent U.S. residency.

“If there’s any place where a hotel should be successful, it’d be Hood River,” he said.

Meanwhile, the younger Naito was exploring the world of cable parks. After watching some videos online, Will found out that the sport was most popular in Germany, so he took a trip to Munich to tour several of the cable parks.

“This will grow the community’s reputation for water sports and recreation,” he said. “It’s going to draw a lot of people to Hood River.”

But the park has raised opposition from some local community members who are concerned that the developments will impact salmon habitats and limit public access to Nichols Basin.

“The idea that you can put basically an amusement park on Hood River’s waterfront, in designated critical habitat for salmon, is ridiculous,” said Brent Foster, an attorney representing a group called Friends of the Hood River Waterfront.

“It’s a crazy use of any city’s prime waterfront,” Foster added.

Permitting for the cable park is just getting under way, according to Hood River planning director Cindy Walbridge, and the project depends on forthcoming decisions from several agencies. The Port of Hood River, which owns the basin, still needs to sign off on the plan, and the state Department of State Lands is currently reviewing the application.

Friends of the Hood River Waterfront plans to oppose the park when it goes before the planning commission later this summer, Foster said.

The group has already appealed the commission’s initial approval of the site plan and conditional use permit related to the hotel and commercial building. In a marathon meeting of the Hood River City Council on Monday, Foster presented 23 objections to the Naito site plan covering a broad range of topics.

Councilors unanimously upheld the approval, although they did strengthen some conditions adopted by the planning commission, including requirements for public access through the property and clarity on flood plain restrictions. Their final determination will be presented July 9.

“We won’t be able to start construction this year,” said Bob Naito, founder of Naito Development. “But we’re confident that in the end we’ll prevail.”

Naito expects construction of the four-story hotel and commercial building, which will include office space, a water-sports retailer, and a restaurant, to begin next spring. of Oregon City will be the general contractor.

Acknowledging the ongoing opposition from the Friends of the Hood River Waterfront, Naito said they would start construction on the cable park “when we can.”

“For Hood River – the kite boarding, wind surfing, and water sports capital of the world – this will add one more element,” he said.

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Interior demolition of the 107-year-old Rich Building in Old Town Portland began in March, and progress has been quick. On Saturday, interested renters will be able to visit a complete model unit in the mixed-income apartment project, which is being developed by

Crews from are half-way through the $1.3 million project to turn the former railroad hotel into 34 workforce studio apartments. The “Modern Rich Apartments” is now leasing studios with rents ranging from $590 to $675 and footprints between 200 and 400 square feet.

But surprises are always lurking in historic buildings, said Julie Garver, housing development director for Innovative Housing. The original foundation of the Rich Building, for instance, was not as strong as the engineering and design team from and had hoped.

Still, they were able to “beef up the original footings” without adding to the project costs, according to Garver.

The first- and second-floor units are now framed, wired and plumbed. Innovative Housing is seeking one restaurant to fill a 1,445-square-foot corner space, and it’s looking for other commercial tenants to lease a total of 2,880 square feet of storefront commercial space. Those tenant improvement projects could begin over the summer.

Construction of the apartments is expected to wrap up in August to prepare for a Sept. 1 move-in.

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The Environmental Protection Agency today awarded one of 15 environmental workforce development grants to .

OTI was the only group from Oregon to receive a portion of the $3 million Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training funds. The program provides resources to train unemployed people in jobs that address environmental challenges in their communities.

“We couldn’t do the job training that we do without (the EPA),” said OTI Executive Director Connie Ashbrook. This award marks the fourth cycle of support OTI has won from the agency.

The Portland Harbor, the lower area of the Willamette River, and the Columbia Slough all have land that is “ripe for cleanup and redevelopment,” Ashbrook said. OTI will offer two sessions in 2013 and two in 2014 to train at least 30 women in related jobs.

Approximately 71 percent of graduates from this training program find employment in environmental fields that serve local communities, according to Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

To date, the EPA estimates that 7,300 people who completed the training have found jobs in the environmental field, with an average starting hourly wage of $14.12.

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In an effort to bring to downtown the “industrial feel” that attracts creative companies to inner east Portland office spaces, recently renovated two historic office buildings on the corner of Southwest Third and Morrison streets.

The 12-story Loyalty Building and the six-story Hamilton Building are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But both buildings have suffered from several generations of tenant improvements and poor maintenance. Redside ripped out asbestos-laden floor tiles, tore down drop ceilings, and exposed the brick in the perimeter walls.

The firm’s $2 million project has the buildings on track to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold ratings.

and helped the development firm plan mechanical, lighting and plumbing upgrades that are expected to save up to 40 percent in energy costs, according to Garrin Royer, a partner at Redside.

“We’re really showing the character of the building again,” Royer said. “The polished concrete floors and exposed ceilings create an industrial, chic look.”

“Green Spotlight” is a weekly feature on local firms’ best sustainable projects. To submit a project, email greenspotlight@djcOregon.com or call 503-802-7226.

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