Portlanders, welcome to the dark ages. That’s what I was told by a bus driver after moving to Portland back in 1997. The driver told me to enjoy the summer, because Portland typically gets six to seven months of gray days and long nights, which he referred to as Portland’s dark ages.
The shift in the seasons certainly brings a bevy of changes to Stumptown, from the beautiful fall colors and wide variety of local harvest festivals, to the onset of cold, wet rain (it can rival movie rain) that eventually settles into a more livable daily drizzle. When the days start to get shorter for the rest of the country, Portland days — uninterested in conforming — take it one step further, and get really brief. Days start out dark, and before you can even make it home, the lights are out.
Summer certainly triggers a nationwide up-surge in electrical consumption –powering all those heat pumps and air conditioners– but for Portland, winter triggers our own little upsurge in power use. PGE probably smiles a Cheshire grin when darkness sets at 4 p.m., triggering the city to light itself as best as possible, and thermostats to kick-on a wide variety of power-hungry heating appliances.
Unfortunately, there is a darker side to this dark side of Portland’s seasonal shift, and that is the increased opportunity for home break-ins due to the increased number of unlit hours. Quite frankly I never put the two together –summer typically triggers higher rates of crime. But for crimes of opportunity, nothing says Craigslist bonanza quite like a house without any lights on.
For those of you interested in learning more about the issues with inadequate exterior illumination, and how to alleviate said issues without taking major stock in PGE, check out this article I just published at towseyfrench.com. I’ve documented a multi-year process in seeking, testing and using compact florescent lamps (CFLs) to improve my home’s exterior illumination. Yeah, I’ve made mistakes along the way, but I’m pleased to share my experiences with the rest of Stumptown in hope that we all can shine a little brighter, and tread a little lighter.
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