David J. Sailor

NEWS:

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The Energy and Water Appropriation's bill contains $1 million in funding for the Green Building Research Laboratory at Portland State University. This infusion of federal resources adds to the initial investment by PSU's Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices and Oregon's Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center (OR-BEST). This latest investment leverages a series of recently funded research projects and will significantly advance the GBRL's education, research, and outreach goals. See www.greenbuilding.pdx.edu for more details.

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Research Opportunities

As part of the growth of the Green Building Research Laboratory at Portland State University (www.greenbuilding.pdx.edu) we anticipate advertising for several new Graduate Student Research Assistant (RA) and Postdoctoral Assistant opportunities. These positions will involve significant collaboration with engineers, architects, urban planners, economists and sociologists with a focus on understanding and exploiting opportunities to reduce energy consumption in and improve the overall environmental performance of buildings. Look for more specific postings in the near future... or email me for more details.

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7th International Conference on Urban Climate ICUC-7 to be held in Yokohama

Dr. Sailor will participate in ICUC-7 as an invited plenary speaker on the topic of "Anthropogenic Heat and Moisture Emissions in the Urban Environment." The conference is part of an ongoing series of ICUCs which have been held approximately every 3 years since 1989 when it was initiated with a meeting in Kyoto. Most recently ICUC was held in Gothenburg Sweden. The ICUC is organized by the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC).

Postdoctoral Opportunities:

As part of our sustainability initiative, Portland State University’s Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices (CSP2) will award Post-Doctoral positions in Sustainability during the 2009-2010 academic year . Appointments will be for one academic year, starting as early as July 1, 2009, with the possibility of renewal for one additional year. Please see www.pdx.edu/sustainability/postdoc.html for details and application guidelines! (posted 2/16/09)

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Green Building Research Lab Receives Multiple Equipment Grants

The Green Building Research Laboratory at Portland State University has recently won two substantial grants for investment in research equipment, seminars and other activities to promote research on green buildings and sustainable practices. In December 2008 a grant for $351,531 from the Miller Foundation Grant Fund at Portland State University (www.investinportland.org) helped to initiate the lab. In January a supplemental grant for $300,000 was awarded by the Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST). This latest grant is intended to broaden the capabilities of the GBRL and facilitate inter-institutional collaboration across Oregon. The Green Building Research Laboratory will house the computational and experimental infrastructure for research on building envelopes; passive, active, and hybrid HVAC systems and controls; buildings’ interactions with local environments; and indoor environmental quality. This laboratory will be housed in a 910 square foot space in the Northwest Center for Engineering, Science, and Technology – a new LEED Gold building on the PSU campus. (posted 2/11/09)

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In September 2008 Dr. Sailor delivered an invited presentation to the World Green Roof Congress in London. Pictured here on London green roof tour with Dusty Gedge.

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In May 2008, Dr. Sailor was an invited speaker at the Second Workshop on Earth Observation for Urban Planning and Management hosted by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University:

www.lsgi.polyu.edu.hk/rsrg/resources/News/workshop2.htm

In addition to featuring local experts, this workshop brought together a range of experts from around the world, including Martin Wooster, Kings College London; Tim Oke, Univ. British Columbia; Jamie Voogt, Univ. Western Ontario; Dale Quattrochi, NASA MSFC; and Qihao Weng, Indiana State Univ.

After the workshop, Dr. Sailor spent a few additional days at Univ. Hong Kong, making measurements of the urban thermal environment in Hong Kong with Dr. Melissa Hart and her students (see below).

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The Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Portland State University seeks a new faculty member to support our growth in the broad areas of energy and sustainability. See the announcement:

http://www.me.pdx.edu/jobs/

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Green roof research at Portland State has entered a new phase! Our software for calculating the building energy effects of green roofs has been adopted by the US Department of Energy as part of their EnergyPlus simulation program; led by Graig Spolek, we have completed construction of a laboratory facility for conducting controlled measurements of living green roof modules under varying environmental conditions; we continue to monitor a comprehensive suite of variables from our Broadway Building Green Roof; and most recently our paper:  “Thermal Property Measurements for Ecoroof Soils Common in the Western U.S.,” has been accepted for publication in Energy and Buildings. Students interested in helping us take this research to the next level should contact one of the project team - Profs. Sailor and Spolek (in Mechanical Engineering) or Prof. Ervin (in Environmental Studies).

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The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 was awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore for "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change". While my role as one of many contributing authors to the 4th Assessment Report of the IPCC is admittedly very small, nonetheless I am proud to be associated with this award to the IPCC. (posted Oct. 16, 2007).

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