Green Building

Buildings consume vast quantities of water, energy and additional resources, often at great expense to students, tenants and Portland State University as a whole. In recent years, PSU has worked to curb this consumption by educating community members about ways in which they can improve the efficiency of their own practices, instituting policies that reduce consumption by campus buildings, and designing whole buildings to maximize efficiency.

Since 2002 PSU has focused on designing new buildings and retrofitting and renovating older campus buildings with sustainability in mind. Several PSU buildings serve as models of these kinds of innovative sustainable design and construction projects. These include the new Engineering Building, Broadway Housing Building, Stephen Epler Hall, the Biology Research Greenhouses and Native American Student and Community Center. In all but the latter, the US Green Building Council's LEED certification program was used as the measuring stick and standard for sustainable design and construction.

Resources

Cascadia Regional Green Building Council: http://chapters.usgbc.org/cascadiagbc/

Cascadia Emerging Green Builders Group: http://chapters.usgbc.org/cascadiagbc/emerging_green_builders.html

Office of Sustainable Development, City of Portland, "G-Rated" Program: http://www.green-rated.org/

Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, "Better Bricks": http://www.betterbricks.com/default.aspx

PGE's "Earth Advantage" program: http://www.earthadvantage.com/

U.S. Green Building Council, including the LEED Program ("Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design"): http://www.usgbc.org/

Environmental Design and Construction magazine, free subscription at: http://www.edcmag.com

US Department of Energy's Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development, Green Building Success Stories: http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/buildings/gbsstoc.shtm

For additional examples of Green Buildings (in the U.S. and around the world), see the "Building Energy Efficiency Research" case studies at:
http://arch.hku.hk/research/BEER/casestud.htm#USA