Portland, Oregon is yet again proving to the country and the world that it intends to brand itself as a top notch sustainable city. Not merely is it enough to build LEED Platinum buildings nor have an entire neighborhood [Hoyt Street Yards Pearl District] designated LEED ND Platinum status. No...Portland's plan is much larger than that, it envisions Eco Districts.

What is an Eco District you ask? Well an Eco District might mean something different to different people depending on who you talk to, but in general it can be defined as: a neighborhood or district with a broad commitment to accelerate neighborhood-scale sustainability. Eco Districts commit to achieving ambitious sustainability performance goals, guiding district investments and community action, and tracking the results over time.

What does that mean for Portland? Well, as part of a broader strategy, the city is already applying methods to make the city as a whole "sustainable", but it is more than just that. The city has identified Portland State University, South Waterfront, and the Lloyd district as districts that they can transform to fit their vision and definition of the special districts.

I think that they chose the areas they did because an eco district would have to be in a dense urban area that has easy access to public transportation. In the case of PSU, it is right on the streetcar line and also on the Max light rail lines. The Oregon Sustainability Center is one of the key icons that will anchor the PSU eco district. It is a planned Living Building, a building that is net zero energy, net zero water usage, and net zero carbon emissions. It is the most stringent environmentally conscious building that can be built.

The Oregon Sustainability Center will be a living, breathing, and working building, where 725 office tenants and 1,400 students and faculty will use the conference center, classrooms and offices. Joined by dozens to hundreds of visitors, their presence will ensure the delivery of real-world information in studies conducted at OSC.

A robust research agenda will maximize OSC’s experimental opportunities. Already, researchers across the Oregon University System and beyond are developing questions around five major research themes:

Integrated performance-based design, construction and operations

The Oregon Sustainability Center will create a solid connection between its research agenda and the businesses that can turn research into marketable products and services. The five themes span industry sectors that are strong and growing in Oregon, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green building. These sectors have strong support from state and local governments. In OSC, they have the opportunity to prove their products in a real-world environment.

The Center will also be a model for coordination among community colleges, Oregon University System institutions and training entities. With a host of technologies on-site – from biological wastewater treatment systems to solar panels – OSC provides an optimal setting for hands-on green job training.

Beyond Oregon's planned Sustainability Research Center, other components of an Eco District include urban rooftop gardens, extensive bicycle boulevards [see Portland's $600 million Bicycle Master Plan], designated "green streets", and district energy plans.

District Energy is a topic for another post, but it will become a major component of the future Portland Eco Districts. Portland's District Energy systems would be a low-energy alternative to electric systems in which a network of pipes beneath city streets transfer heat to and from buildings. Such a project would pump water from the Willamette River to heat and cool new developments in the Pearl and South Waterfront districts and eventually expand to the entire downtown and PSU campus.

A district heating system has been mentioned in the city's local action plan for global warming since before 1993, when Portland became the first U.S. city to adopt a goal of reducing emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2010.

We'll keep an eye out on any new developments that arise in the race to create sustainable eco districts.

Thoughts, Comments, Questions...

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