David J. Sailor

NEWS:

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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The American Meteorological Society (AMS) held its 7th Symposium on the Urban Environment in San Diego, Sept. 10-13, 2007. The conference was co-located with the 7th Coastal Meteorology conference, resulting in some interesting joint sessions. The Urban Symposium was co-convened by Bob Bornstein, Jason Ching, and David Sailor. Presentations were recorded by AMS and should be available at their conference web site soon (www.ametsoc.org). Many good pictures taken at the conference are uploaded at www.fuse.pdx.edu/7thcoastalurban.htm. (posted Sept 16, 2007).

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PART TIME SUMMER WORK ASSISTING AN URBAN CLIMATE RESEARCH PROJECT

We seek students interested in environmental research to drive car-window-mounted temperature sensors on pre-determined routes through Portland neighborhoods during selected days/times over the period of June – August 2007. Each “traverse” will take approximately one hour and will occur at various times of day (~5am, ~3pm, ~10pm). Student assistants will be given 1-2 days of advance notice for scheduled traverses, and will be given an opportunity to sign up for shifts. Each assistant will focus their traverse on a pre-defined region within the Portland area (that we will try to coordinate with where they live).

To apply you must have a valid driver’s license, access to your own vehicle, and proof of insurance. You will also be required to attend a one-hour PSU driver safety course. You will be reimbursed for mileage and paid at an hourly rate of $15.

The data you gather will help us better understand the thermal environment of cities and how land use and land cover affect the urban climate (see www.fuse.pdx.edu - posted 05/15/07).

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The U.S. Department of Energy in their April 2007 release of EnergyPlus v2.0 has included the Green Roof module that we developed here at Portland State University. This module allows building energy modelers to explicitly account for the energy balance associated with a green roof construction. We are currently developing further refinements and extensions to this module which we will likely incorporate in the next release. See my Eco-structure magazine interview for further details on Portland State's green roof research (posted 4/25/07).

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The American Meteorological Society's Seventh Symposium on the Urban Environment will be held jointly with the Seventh Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction Processes in San Diego, CA, 10-13 September 2007. This symposium is being co-organized by Bob Bornstein, Jason Ching, and David Sailor. Abstracts are due May 11, 2007 (posted 3/11/07).

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Professors Sailor, Spolek, and Erwin of PSU have received funding from the Ecoworks Foundation with matching funds from the City of Portland's Office of Sustainable Development to develop modeling and experiments related to the energy and stormwater runoff performance of ecoroofs. This funding will establish an ecoroof laboratory in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department that will supplement our current efforts at measuring thermal characteristics of ecoroof soils. In addition, Gerding Edlen - a local development company has provided some matching funds and a commitment to provide PSU researchers with access to their ecoroof projects for performance monitoring and gathering of data necessary for validating PSU's ecoroof models. In a show of institutional support for this work Portland State has supplemented this effort with significant cost-sharing. The project runs for a period of 3 years (posted 11/27/06).

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