The Quest For The World’s Greenest Building
Portland may like to think of itself as the spiritual home of the sustainability movement. But there’s a development underway in the small town of Independence, OR that may someday make the big thinkers in Portland jealous. Simply put, they want to construct the World’s Greenest Building.
The project is called Independence Station, a 57,000 square foot building that’s a mix of retail, office and residential space. Some of the green features include solar panels to produce electricity when the weather in sunny, vegetable powered generators take over when the sun goes away. There will be 90,000 gallon cistern to collect water during the rainy season. And during the summer the rainwater will be used to irrigate two eco-roofs, an indoor garden wall, plus wash clothes and flush toilets.
Images Courtesy: Steven Ribeiro
Left: Construction is about 40% complete. Right: A Drawing Of The Completed Building.
So how will this qualify as the world’s greenest building? Steven Ribeiro of Aldeia Development says they’re on track for the highest rated LEED certified building ever. Their goal is to get at least 64 out of 69 possible points. Maybe they’ll score as high as 66. Riberio says the current record holder has 63 points.
Of course we won’t know for sure until the certification process is complete.
As a pioneer myself for the LEED movement, I am completely blown away by a building that encompasses all of the sustainable principles our future will need to embrace. The building is a prototype that others around the world will try to emulate. Finally, innovation, sustainability, practicality and beauty have found themselves in harmony!