Project Completed – December 2011
Occupants of the Oregon Sustainability Center will be required to minimize water use and to maximize water reuse throughout the building to achieve water use reductions of 80 to 90% over standard practices. During design, this study will monitor occupant water usage to determine likely acceptance levels with various technologies and practices. Research would be directed at determining the range of water use practices that are acceptable to building occupants, and the resulting water use reduction potential. This data will be used to inform fixture selection in design. Post-occupancy, the team will evaluate occupant satisfaction with and acceptance of these technologies.
The Sustainable Water, Energy and Environmental Technologies (SWEET) Lab at Portland State University, with partners, has developed technology and methodologies for instrumented data collection of water and sanitation infrastructure, to measure usage and performance trends. The SWEET Lab is in the process of demonstrating that instrumented data collection, compared to spot-checks and surveys, provides increased accuracy, decreased cost, and greater insight. By measuring current water usage over time, the data will indicate true usage patterns, rather than perceived patterns.
Specifically, a statistically significant sample of water faucets, drinking fountains and toilets will be instrumented with pressure sensors to indicate usage frequency, usage volume and performance. These will be implemented at the current work sites of future Oregon Sustainability Center tenants, including Oregon BEST and the PSU Institute for Sustainable Solutions, currently in the Market Building at 1600 SW 4th Ave.
Partners
Photo Courtesy Oregon Sustainability Center: www.oregonsustainabilitycenter.org