Sustainability Commons^™

Psu Market Center Building Leed Eb Materials Audit Report, Christa Mcdermott, Emily Murkland, Bryan Nguyen, Tay Stone, Rushada Wimer

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

This report provides Portland State University’s (PSU) Campus Sustainability Office (CSO), with an objective third party LEED O+M Materials Assessment of PSU’s Market Center Building (MCB). The data collected for this audit provides CSO with insight into the building’s current waste composition and diversion rate. Additionally, it identifies opportunities to reduce the amount of recoverable materials ending up in the landfill stream. Community Environmental Services (CES) conducted material audits for 100% of MCB’s landfill-bound, commingled recycling, glass bottles and jars recycling, and compost streams during a 24-hour period.

Decision Support System For The Design And Planning Of Low-Impact Development Practices: The Case Of Seoul, Jae-Yeol Song, Eun-Sung Chung, Soo Hyun Kim

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study presented the conceptual framework of the water-management analysis module (WMAM) to derive effective physical specifications for the design and planning of low-impact development (LID) practices using the storm-water management model (SWMM). This decision-support system can be used for six LID types and has the following key capabilities: determining relevant LID design parameters within the SWMM that critically influence the hydrological cycle components using a simple sensitivity analysis and determining the best hydrological values for LID planning specification. This study analyzed a highly urbanized university campus as a case study to determine the design and planning specifications for an …

Social Position Influencing The Water Perception Gap Between Local Leaders And Constituents In A Socio-Hydrological System, Melissa Haeffner, Douglas Jackson-Smith, Courtney G. Flint

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

How well city leaders represent their constituents and meet their needs are key concerns in transitioning to local sustainable water governance. To date, however, there is little research documenting the influence of social position between elected leaders who make policy, career staff water managers who design and operate systems and implement policies, and the members of the public whose individual water use behaviors are important drivers of water sustainability outcomes. In this study, we ask: ‘‘How does social position explain variation in water perceptions and concerns between different actors in a sociohydrological system?’’ Using a mixed method approach with survey …

Utility Summary Fiscal Year 2018, Campus Sustainability Office

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

Summary of energy use listed by building

Psu Green Building Internship Final Presentation, 2018: Karl Miller Center Post-Occupancy Study, Omar Abu Sulaiman, Jocelyn Reynolds

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

Intent of Study:

Determine if the mechanical and passive design strategies in the KMC are functioning properly to provide appropriate levels of thermal comfort to occupants.

Campus Sustainability Office Annual Report, 2017-2018, Campus Sustainability Office

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

The Campus Sustainability Office 2017-2018 annual report.

Psu Green Building Internship Final Report, 2018: Karl Miller Center Post-Occupancy Study, Omar Abu Sulaiman, Jocelyn Reynolds

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

In this report, both occupant comfort perception-based data, collected via surveys, and building performance-based data, collected via sensors, are utilized to conduct a post-occupancy evaluation of Portland State University’s (PSU) new Karl Miller Center (KMC), formerly known as the School of Business Administration. The KMC was completed in September 2017 and is on track to earn LEED Platinum certification, primarily for the passive ventilation strategies incorporated into its design. The environmental factors studied in this report are air and concrete slab temperatures, CO2 levels, and airflow. The personal factors studied in this report are clothing levels (clo), gender identity, thermal …

Stars Annual Report, 2018, Campus Sustainability Office

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

The Campus Sustainability Office (CSO) compiles information from departments across campus annually to complete the STARS Report. The score is based on the number of points received across five categories: Academics, Engagement, Operations, and Planning & Administration, and Innovation & Leadership. PSU has maintained a Gold rating since the institution began reporting in 2011 and is within the top 40 of over 400 reporting institutions. This summary includes improvement opportunities to assist our efforts to eventually become a STARS Platinum institution. For more information on improvement opportunities please contact Amanda Wolf at [email protected]

Utility Data Comparison Of Fy16, Fy17, And Fy 18 Quarter One And Quarter Two Data, Campus Sustainability Office

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

FY16, FY17, & FY18 Q1 and Q2 EUI Comparison

Does Collective Action Sequester Carbon? Evidence From The Nepal Community Forestry Program, Randall Bluffstone, Eswaran Somanathan, Prakash Jha, Harisharan Luintel, Rajesh Bista, Mike Toman, Naya Paudel, Bhim Adhikari

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights

• Presumed open access forests have as little as 34% of those under collective action.

• No evidence that Community Forestry Programme forests store more carbon

.• Carbon from collective action not conditional on Community Forestry Programme.

Transferring Sustainability Solutions Across Contexts Through City–University Partnerships, Lauren Withycombe Keeler, Fletcher Beaudoin, Amy M. Lerner, Beatrice John, Richard Beecroft, Kaidi Tamm, Arnim Wiek, Daniel J. Lang

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The urgency of climate change and other sustainability challenges makes transferring and scaling solutions between cities a necessity. However, solutions are deeply contextual. To accelerate solution efforts, there is a need to understand how context shapes the development of solutions. Universities are well positioned to work with cities on transferring solutions from and to other cities. This paper analyses five case studies of city–university partnerships in three countries on transferring solutions. Our analysis suggests that understanding the interest, the action on sustainability, and the individual and collective sustainability competences on the part of the city administration and the university can …

Managing Herbicide Resistance: Listening To The Perspectives Of The Practitioners, Jill Schroeder, David Shaw, Michael Barrett, Harold Coble, Amy Asmus, Raymond Jussaume, David E. Ervin

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Multiple Methods Of Public Engagement: Disaggregating Socio-Spatial Data For Environmental Planning In Western Washington, Usa, Rebecca J. Mclain, David Banis, Alexa Todd, Lee Cerveny

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights

• The effectiveness of participatory GIS approaches at engaging different publics was explored.

• Online surveys engaged urbanites; community workshops engaged rural residents.

• Urban and rural residents went to similar places but engaged in different activities.

• Use of multiple data collection methods will broaden public engagement.

• Mapping behavior studies are needed to improve understandings of PPGIS data quality.

Building Planner Commitment: Are California’S Sb 375 And Oregon’S Sb 1059 Models For Climate-Change Mitigation?, Keith Bartholomew, David Proffitt

TREC Final Reports

California’s Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (SB 375) and the Oregon Sustainable Transportation Initiative (SB 1059) have made them the first states in the nation to try and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using the transportation-planning process. Evaluating how these pioneering laws have changed local planning processes – as well as plans themselves – in each state provides insight into the laws’ effectiveness at changing development patterns in a way that reduces GHG emissions, without waiting decades to see the effects in the built environment. Both states’ laws require metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and the municipalities that comprise them …

Using The Planning Process To Mitigate Climate Change, Keith Bartholomew

TREC Project Briefs

This research evaluates how Oregon’s SB 1059 and California’s SB 375 have integrated climate change mitigation strategies into local planning processes, and seeks to understand how transportation planning can help slow climate change.

Deconstruction In Portland: Summary Of Activity, Emma Willingham, Peter Hulseman, Mike Paruszkiewicz

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

On October 31st, 2016, the City of Portland instituted an ordinance requiring the deconstruction of all residential homes and duplexes built prior to 1917 or possessing a historical designation. Deconstruction is a relatively new industry, and with this local regulatory encouragement, several new contractors became certified to participate in the expanded market. This report provides background on the industry, largely from the 2016 report researched and written by the Northwest Economic Research Center (NERC) in anticipation of the requirement, and an examination of what has occurred in the year following the ordinance’s passage, using deconstruction and demolition permit data and …

Values Mapping And Counter-Mapping In Contested Landscapes: An Olympic Peninsula (Usa) Case Study, Rebecca J. Mclain, Lee Cerveny, Kelly Biedenweg, David Banis

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Indigenous peoples, local communities, and other groups can use counter-mapping to make land claims, identify areas of desired access, or convey cultural values that diverge from the dominant paradigm. While sometimes created independently, counter-maps also can be formulated during public participation mapping events sponsored by natural resource planning agencies. Public participation mapping elicits values, uses, and meanings of landscapes from diverse stakeholders, yet individuals and advocacy groups can use the mapping process as an opportunity to make visible strongly held values and viewpoints. We present three cases from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State to illustrate how stakeholders intentionally used …

Forest Collaborative Meeting Agenda, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Environment For Development (Efd) Initiative

Forest Collaborative Research

Agenda for the Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative Annual Meeting on 27-30 October 2017 at Capital Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Torrefaction Kinetics Of Hemp Hurds, An Emerging Agricultural Byproduct, In A Small Retort, Tel Jensen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As knowledge concerning the consequences of unsustainable energy sources and agricultural practices grows, development of low-impact alternatives to both becomes more important. Sustainable sources of biomass offer solutions to both problems. This study characterized the reaction kinetics of torrefying an agricultural byproduct, the woody interior of hemp stems, or hurds. Torrefaction was carried out at 250 °C in small and simple retorts made of galvanized steel pipe. A first-order model most closely approximated the reaction. A sensitivity analysis was performed and the data was adjusted to correct for three potential sources of error, and regressed to find the best fit …

Green Leasing Internship: Final Presentation, 2017, Emily Quinton

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

Presentation slides from summer 2017 Green Leasing Internship, Portland State University

Trade-Offs: The Production Of Sustainability In Households, Kirstin Marie Elizabeth Munro

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past half-century, environmental problems have become increasingly serious and seemingly intractable, and a careless, clueless, or contemptuous consumer is often portrayed as the root cause of this environmental decline. This study takes a different approach to evaluating the demand for resources by households, assessing possible pro-environmental paths forward through a study of highly ecologically-conscious households. By modeling "green" households as producers of sustainability rather than consumers of environmental products, the sustainability work that takes place in households is brought into focus. An investigation of household sustainability production makes possible the evaluation of the trade-offs inherent in these pro-environmental …

Knowing Nature In The City: Comparative Analysis Of Knowledge Systems Challenges Along The 'Eco-Techno' Spectrum Of Green Infrastructure In Portland & Baltimore, Annie Marissa Matsler

Dissertations and Theses

Green infrastructure development is desired in many municipalities because of its potential to address pressing environmental and social issues. However, despite technical optimism, institutional challenges create significant barriers to effective green infrastructure design, implementation, and maintenance. Institutional challenges stem from the disparate scales and facility types that make up the concept of green infrastructure, which span from large-scale natural areas to small engineered bioswales. Across these disparate facilities 1) different performance metrics are used, 2) different institutions have jurisdiction, and, 3) facility types are differentially classified as assets, producing epistemological and ontological variegation across the spectrum of green infrastructure that …

Green Leasing Program Design For Psu, Emily Quinton

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

Portland State University (PSU) serves as a Landlord to over 60 third-party tenants, including retail, food service, office, food cart, and other tenant types. To encourage and standardize the adoption and practice of sustainability behaviors among these tenants, PSU hired a Green Leasing Intern during the summer of 2017. The intern, graduate student Emily Quinton, managed by members of the PSU Planning, Construction & Real Estate (PCRE) team, was tasked with researching best practices, drafting green leasing language, and developing tenant engagement and incentive-based approaches to implementation. This report serves as the culminating deliverable for that internship. Additional internship documentation …

Psu Green Building Summer Internship Final Report, 2017: Interior Environmental And Indoor Air Quality Assessments Of Workspaces For Future Maintenance Of Parkmill’S Constant Air Volume (Cav) Hvac System, Bassam Alduhaim, Sofia Chavez Cruz

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

Parkmill’s Design, Construction, and Mechanical Systems

The Parkmill building is located on the lower south section of Portland State University’s (PSU) urban campus between SW Park Avenue and SW Mill Street.The lot space, originally selected for the design proposal in 1956, was located between two buildings including the acquired Parkway Manor (currently designated as PSU housing) and former frame house-type buildings. The proposed building would supplement the evening and summer curriculum courses offered by the General Education Division (GED) in partnership with Portland State College and would become a vital resource for students in the Portland metropolitan area.

Advancing Rationality With Sustainability: An Analysis Of Agent-Based Simulation, Osman Goktug Tanrikulu

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Today, falling trends of species and ecosystem in the world due to overconsumption and destruction of natural resources are at critical levels. It is vital for humanity to operate with sustainable and resilient modes of production and consumption. In this regard, this paper examines the basic premise of rationality and introduces sustainability as an advancement to the theoretical concept of rationality. Thus, a rational mindset and a sustainable mindset are compared under depletion of environmental resources. The understanding of rationality in the analysis is based on Garett Hardin’s (1968) ‘the tragedy of the commons’ model, in which actors are self-interested …

Mapping Meaningful Places On Washington’S Olympic Peninsula: Toward A Deeper Understanding Of Landscape Values, Lee Cerveny, Kelly Biedenweg, Rebecca J. Mclain

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Landscape values mapping has been widely employed as a form of public participation GIS (PPGIS) in natural resource planning and decision-making to capture the complex array of values, uses, and interactions between people and landscapes. A landscape values typology has been commonly employed in the mapping of social and environmental values in a variety of management settings and scales. We explore how people attribute meanings and assign values to special places on the Olympic Peninsula (Washington, USA) using both a landscape values typology and qualitative responses about residents’ placerelationships. Using geographically referenced social values data collected in community meetings (n …

Forest Collaborative Meeting Agenda, Athens, Greece, Environment For Development (Efd) Initiative

Forest Collaborative Research

Agenda for the 1^st Forest Collaborative Workshop on 27 – 28 June 2017 at Athinais Hotel in Athens, Greece Leontius Hall.

Leed O+M Materials Audit: Blumel Hall, Emily Murkland, Taylor Stone, John Dea, Kristen Purdy

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

• This report provides the Campus Sustainability Office with an objective, third party Materials Audit for Blumel Hall in Portland, Oregon. The data collected for this audit provides Campus Sustainability Office with insight into Blumel’s current waste composition and diversion rate as well as identifies opportunities to improve recycling, composting, and areas for reduction of materials consumption. Community Environmental Services (CES) conducted Materials Audits for 100% of Blumel Hall’s landfill-bound, commingled recycling, glass bottles and jars recycling, and compost streams during a 24-hour period.

Psu Urban Center Building Leed Eb Materials Audit Report, Emily Murkland, Taylor Stone, John Dea, Kristen Purdy

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

This report provides the Campus Sustainability Office with an objective, third party Materials Audit for Portland State University’s Urban Center Building in Portland, Oregon. The data collected for this audit provides Campus Sustainability Office with insight into Urban Center’s current waste composition and diversion rate as well as identifies opportunities to improve recycling, composting, and areas for reduction of materials consumption. Community Environmental Services (CES) conducted materials audits for 100% of Urban Center’s landfill-bound, commingled recycling, glass bottles and jars recycling, and compost streams during a 24-hour period.

Continental-Scale Homogenization Of Residential Lawn Plant Communities, Megan M. Wheeler, Christopher Neill, Peter M. Groffman, Meghan Avolio, Neil D. Bettez, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Lindsay Darling, J. Morgan Grove, Sharon J. Hall, James B. Heffernan, Sarah E. Hobbie, Kelli L. Larson, Jennifer L. Morse, Kristen C. Nelson, Laura A. Ogden, Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne, Diane E. Pataki, Colin Polsky, Meredith Steele, Tara Trammell

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Residential lawns are highly managed ecosystems that occur in urbanized landscapes across the United States. Because they are ubiquitous, lawns are good systems in which to study the potential homogenizing effects of urban land use and management together with the continental-scale effects of climate on ecosystem structure and functioning. We hypothesized that similar homeowner preferences and management in residential areas across the United States would lead to low plant species diversity in lawns and relatively homogeneous vegetation across broad geographical regions. We also hypothesized that lawn plant species richness would increase with regional temperature and precipitation due to the presence …