OSD seeks Green Investment Fund applicants and feedback for new High Performance Green Policy

Yesterday I spoke with Alisa Kane of the city's Office of Sustainable Development about two efforts underway there: the 2009 green Investment Fund and the city's new High Performance Green Building Policy.

In partnership with the Energy Trust of Oregon and other local agencies, the OSD is seeking proposals for its 2009 Green Investment Fund. This year as much as $425,000 will be awarded to individual projects that significantly conserve water and energy, reduce stormwater entering the sewers and recycle or reuse a substantial amount of materials.

The GIF began in 2001 to support innovative and resource-efficient building projects in Portland and has given away over $2.5 million in the last five years to 32 different projects. In 2005, the GIF evolved into a partnership between OSD and the City of Portland's Bureaus of Water and Environmental Services and Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc.

The GIF awards innovative, comprehensive and transferable projects that excel at whole building integration, energy efficiency and on-site renewable power generation; material reduction, recycling, salvage and reuse; potable water conservation; stormwater management and improving watershed health, and community connectivity.

Among the projects previously funded are the design and installation of a bioreactor at OHSU's Center for Health and Healing (designed by GBD Architects) that captures, treats and reuses 15,000 gallons of wastewater daily for toilet flushing, cooling tower make-up and irrigation. The GIF also funded the first permitted structural insulated panel home in Portland, a living wall that captures and filters rainwater, and the restoration of a historic farmhouse and surrounding property into an educational center demonstrating rainwater harvesting and reuse, on-site renewable power generation and advanced energy efficiency upgrades. Research also was supported on methods to reduce air infiltration through historic double hung windows and the feasibility of capturing and reusing excess heat from the coffee roasting process. And the GIF helped bankroll the transformation of a former gas station into a community center constructed with recycled shipping containers, reclaimed glass panels and salvaged building materials that is on track to become one of the first Living Building Challenge projects in Portland.

Deadline for applying for the Green Investment Fund: February 2, 2009.

Meanwhile, since December 4, the OSD has also been seeking public comment on the draft High Performance Green Building policy (the comment period closes January 20, 2009). The proposed policy provides incentives and technical assistance for new construction and existing buildings that incorporate advanced green building measures.  Leveraging a commercial and residential 'feebate' system to promote green building practices for new construction projects and disclosure of building performance measures for existing commercial buildings, the draft policy seeks to cut carbon emissions from buildings, reduce energy costs for tenants and homeowners and accelerate the growth of local green jobs.  The draft green building policy was developed by OSD staff with input from stakeholders in the design, development, construction and real estate sectors. It's also a toned-down version of the policy first announced by Commissioner Dan Saltzman at the Greenbuild conference in Chicago in 2007.

There will be a presentation of the policy proposal to the public on Tuesday, January 6, from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, in the Portland Building Auditorium, at 1120 SW Fifth Avenue. 

Of course the OSD is set to transform under the Sam Adams administration into the Bureau of Sustainable Planning and Development. Of that move, the OSD's Kane told me, "I feel very positive about it. I think our initiatives will be better integrated into the planning of the city. I think there'll be some learning on both sides, but it will only strengthen us in the long run."