The Oregon Sustainability Center will be home to Oregon’s leaders in sustainable business, government and education.  It will act as a laboratory for green technology regionally and globally, designed to be one of the greenest buildings ever built — sourcing its materials locally, creating its own energy and collecting and treating its water on-site.

PoSI is working with many partners to create the Oregon Sustainability Center.  Our work focuses on the life of the building — creating a showcase for green building, green business and community development.  Situated on the campus of Portland State University, the public space of OSC will be devoted to education, training and collaboration.  The building itself will contain technologies and systems that are cutting-edge, demonstrating Oregon’s leadership in clean technology.

A Living Laboratory
OSC lets companies and academics alike test their research questions in a real-world setting.  Research has already begun, integrated into the design phase.  A monitoring system will track everything from stormwater management to available ambient light.  The intensive tracking system will let researchers and building operators tune OSC for maximum efficiency, and contribute to worldwide knowledge about sustainable construction.  Companies like Sanyo, Intel and CertainTeed are involved in the development, identifying technologies to pursue OSC’s net-zero goals.

Net-Zero
OSC aims to be a triple net-zero building: consuming only as much water, carbon and energy as it produces.  In addition, its materials are being sourced locally and won’t contain any toxic substances.

These performance goals are inspiring a slate of technological and design innovations in fields like architecture, photovoltaics and waste management.  Sitting in the middle of the South of Market EcoDistrict, OSC’s performance goals will affect a wider area than its site.  It has the chance to connect to a district energy system, boosting the surrounding area with its net-zero performance.

Visit the website for more information, and in the meantime, check out the video: