The 800 Pound Sustainable Gorilla
10/23/2008

Portland State University has money in the pocket and a new President ready to lead its school to being the #1 gun in sustainable education.  Wim Wiewel, a name that sounds like a 1920’s baseball player with bushy eye brows and a mean screw ball, walked into a $25 million grant from the Miller Foundation for sustainability.

This money will be dispersed over a 10 year period and will go toward all areas regarding sustainable practices such as architecture, business, and transportation research.  However, there isn’t a list yet on where the money will be allocated.

Beside the hopes of being the sustainable education center of America, PSU is getting close to being powered by 100% renewable energy by 2010.  

PSU has a real opportunity to be a perennial player in sustainability in the nations eyes.  However, they’ll need a symbol of its dominance like China’s fireworks display in the recent summer Olympics.  They’ll need the most spectacular green building ever built ever!

Seriously though, there should be a symbol of its focus on becoming known as a sustainable driven university.  How about a state of the art building applying the latest green building technology and architecture as a symbol?  A place where students and faculty are proud and excited to learn and teach in a building knowing that their University is a leader on teaching and researching for our sustainable future.

PSU isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so in the long run, money saved on utilities and other maintenance costs could end up paying for the building in 200 years.  Maybe they can just ask the Millers for more money.

By Jonathan Davis
 

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=122402290300217400

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