Leadership Exchange delegates share perspectives on Portland.

• Position: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Editor's note: In mid-September, 160 community leaders from Denver traveled to Portland, Ore., for the 2010 Leadership Exchange trip, sponsored by the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation.

The goal was for Denver leaders to bring home new ideas and make connections that can improve the metro Denver region and the state of Colorado. We asked several of the 2010 delegates to share their perspectives on the trip with ColoradoBiz, one of the trip's sponsors. We've culled a sampling of the six articles, which appear in their entirety at www.cobizmag.com.

The natural environment

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Portland--often described as the "greenest" city in the country by analysts and publications worldwide--places much of its emphasis on sustainability.

Energy-efficient buildings, recycling or reusing, composting and a dominant bicycle culture merge with light rail and hybrid cars to reduce the area's carbon footprint by not consuming energy.

However, Portland's leading economic development official, Erin Flynn of the Portland Development Commission, said Portland, unlike Denver, is "not so good at economic development." Flynn noted the leadership role of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. in rallying more than 50 diverse entities throughout the metro region into a cohesive economic engine.

The people of Colorado and Oregon share a common passion for ensuring their states' natural environments are preserved for future generations and expect their utilities to embrace this goal as well.

The renewable energy standard for Oregon is 15 percent renewable by 2015 and 25 percent by 2025. This year, the Colorado Legislature enacted a requirement for 30 percent renewable energy by 2025, a target Xcel Energy is well on its way to meeting.

--David Eves, president and CEO, Xcel Energy

--Stephen Miller, president and CEO, CleanLaunch

Beyond the weather

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When comparing how Portland stacks up against Denver, it's tempting to revert to the obvious: The former has nearly 300 days of rain each year; the latter, about the same number of days of sunshine.

Before I traveled to Portland as part of the Denver Metro Chamber's Leadership Exchange trip, my own perception of rain and gloom had clouded my vision of the Portland community. But the trip offered a fresh lens through which to view Portland and how it compares to my native home of Denver.

Portland is doing many things right. As we heard from urban...