Technological Innovator

The Oregon Sustainability Center will achieve net-zero energy and water performance — going far beyond the industry standard of LEED Platinum.  It will also be the tallest mixed use building striving to meet the Living Building Challenge ™, which requires qualifying buildings to not only meet net-zero energy and water performance, but also to be toxin-free, built with locally sourced materials, and take humane inhabitation to new architectural levels.  Meeting these standards will require a slate of technological and design innovations in fields like architecture, photovoltaics, and waste management.  Those efforts will seed local research, innovation, and manufacturing, creating a host of new career opportunities for Oregon and beyond.  Additionally, OSC will serve as the nucleus for the Portland State University Ecodistrict, a neighborhood strategy to develop and integrate smart buildings, infrastructure, transportation, and community connectivity along sustainable lines.

Net-Zero Energy

A net-zero energy building produces at least as much energy on-site as it uses — all while creating zero carbon emissions.  OSC will achieve this clean energy self-sufficiency in three ways: through technologies like solar panels and geothermal energy, through smart design such as proper orientation of the building to capture solar heat in winter and shade canopies to shed it in summer, and through assessing and challenging tenant behavior.

The cornerstone of OSC’s energy plan is the array of photovoltaic cells that will blanket the building.  The Center will boast as many as four different types, including groundbreaking bifacial panels that let visible light pass through while also generating electricity.  Other technologies include highly efficient fixture optics with individual controls and a geothermal heating and cooling system based on a network of 200-foot-deep wells drilled on-site.

Human behavior is also critical to achieving OSC’s net-zero energy goals. Sensors throughout the building will take stock of energy use on an individual level — keeping track of typically unregulated plug loads like task lighting and appliances.  Able to see how they use — and waste — energy, tenants can more closely adjust and manage their personal energy use.  The data collected will also allow researchers to ask questions about how people use energy, how they react to understanding their energy use, and ultimately, how to better model occupant behavior in building design.

Tenants at OSC will benefit from a human-centered design that includes an open, efficiently laid-out workspace, natural light, and a toxin-free environment — the Living Building Challenge™ mandates that each occupant be stationed no farther than 30 feet from an operable window.  With streetcar service literally passing through the building site and cycling-friendly features like bike parking, changing rooms and showers, transportation at OSC will be simple, clean, and efficient.

Net-Zero Water

OSC will collect and treat all of its water on-site.  Rainwater will be collected into a 200,000-gallon cistern and used for tenant consumption and to run the building’s physical systems.  Treated greywater — wastewater from low-intensity uses such as hand and dishwashing — will be recycled in the building’s toilets and used for cooling mechanical equipment.  Blackwater — from toilets — will be treated in an intensive biological wastewater system that uses a careful mixture of plants and biota to scrub wastewater, bringing it to levels that can be safely released into aquifers or reused again in the greywater system.  Excess treated wastewater, along with storm runoff, will be filtered on-site into the ground, keeping it out of the over-taxed municipal sewer system.

Climate Change and Environmental Benefits

With all of its energy generated through solar and geothermal sources, OSC will produce zero carbon emissions in its daily operation.  Maximizing available light, its smart design and innovative passive ventilation systems will inspire architects across the globe to duplicate and advance OSC's model.  The Center’s intriguing experiments with tenant behavior will produce carbon reduction that can be replicated immediately in new and old buildings alike, creating a paradigm-shifting model to expand sustainable workplaces.

To meet the Living Building Challenge ™, most of OSC’s construction materials will come from within the region to reduce transportation costs (as well as encourage local sustainable industry) and must not contain “red-listed” chemicals like PVC that are common to modern construction.  With the support of local and state governments and academic institutions, Oregon companies can eliminate toxic ingredients from their products to serve the market and demand that OSC is helping to generate.