Given Portland’s reputation for being one of the greenest cities in the world, I expected to open this morning’s Oregonian and read some newsy article about the latest green initiative. Instead, I discovered a fascinating AP story titled Palm Desert Mends Energy-hog Ways.

My 94 year-old mother lives in Palm Desert and, every time we visit here there, we’re struck by all the energy inefficiency.

As the AP writer says:

Palm Desert is the epitome of environmental excess.

Tourists and homeowners live in air-conditioned comfort in this desert resort where the mercury can climb past 110 degrees for days on end. And though the city gets no more than a trace of rain all year, it has lush green fairways, turquoise swimming pools, manmade waterfalls and an artificial lagoon so big that hotel guests are taken across it in gondolas.

So, you cannot imagine how surprised I was to read that Palm Desert’s city government strives to reduce energy use by 30% over the next five years! And they’re not just talking municipal government use.

As I was reading the story, I wondered: how on earth did Palm Desert’s city fathers come around to such an aggressive point of view, much less dub it the Estonia Protocol.

Palm Desert officials made the pitch to state regulators while steaming across the Baltic Sea from Estonia to Sweden after a 2005 energy conference.

That pitch resulted in

$14 million for an energy-saving demonstration project, on top of more than $50 million the city already receives from the state for various energy efficiency projects.

The bottom line: according to Michael Peevey, California Public Utilities Commission president;

If they can do it or come close (30% reduction), most communities in the U.S. can do it.

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