Oregon State University is awarded a grant for the development of the Andrews GREEN House, a model of green design for field stations that will address longer- term housing needs while opening important new avenues for research and education. The GREEN House will be a triplex that meets a long-standing need for creative housing for the growing community of visiting writers, educators and scientists who contribute to the vitality and productivity of the Andrews Forest Program. The proposed building will be constructed using latest mechanical and energy efficient designs and local materials. It will be operated using renewable energy, with monitoring of energy usage, air quality and carbon footprint. The GREEN House will be a living laboratory with wireless sensors installed throughout the structure that provide web based data side-by-side with the data streams from sensors in the surrounding forest. Information about this new energy efficient structure will be archived and analyzed in comparison to existing residential and laboratory buildings on site to compare energy use and air quality. Information and data about the GREEN House will be incorporated into a website and teaching modules - inviting students, researchers, agencies and the public to interact and evaluate the house and its environment from multiple perspectives. This project enables a focus on the explicit linkage of "human" and "natural" systems in research and education programs. Evaluation of energy efficiency and alternative energy options in building and sustaining a new residential structure would be one component of this new research emphasis. The scientists, writers and educators who stay at the GREEN House will play key roles in exploring human-environment connections and generating valuable scientific information linking constructed and natural environments, and will be a centerpiece of a multifaceted education program.
Broader impacts will result from new and expanded collaborations to: 1) use the GREEN House as a model for cost-efficient sustainable buildings in rural, forested environments, and further LEED standards; 2) incorporate project information and experiential learning into energy-efficient construction training; 3) create new curriculum and teaching materials about renewable energy, energy-efficient buildings, and human-environment connections for K-12 and college programs; 4) stimulate the economic well-being of local and rural businesses and help them explore new technologies; 5) develop an interactive web portal to provide data and information and stimulate interest in sustainable building technology for rural areas; and 6) promote reflection on the connections between the constructed and natural environments.
) project was a research and education infrastructure project for the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest Field Station. A super-insulated triplex residence building was developed to house scholars, researchers, artists and educators at the Andrews Forest, and to serve as a focal point for education and research on the built environment and human-environment connections. The building was designed as a model for affordable energy-efficient housing in rural mountainous landscapes, incorporating many of the principles common to LEED, Energy Star and Passive House building standards, and achieving high performance standards (insulation and air seal) for the building envelope. Materials were selected to balance performance, environmental impact and cost, prioritizing local sources. The GREEN House is also a living laboratory with sensors installed throughout the structure that provide detailed monitoring of energy consumption and environmental data that are archived and analyzed side-by-side with data from environmental sensors in the surrounding forest. Older buildings at the field station were also instrumented to allow for detailed comparison of conventional and energy-efficient buildings. Monitoring data are posted to the Andrews Forest website in near real-time, and are available for download through the Andrews Forest data portal. A GREEN House education website hosts a curriculum developed under Next Generation Science Standards with twenty one inquiry-based lessons related to energy, environment and green building. Many of the lessons draw upon Andrews Forest and GREEN House monitoring data and provide a structure for students to conduct audits and monitoring. The lessons connect the built environment and human activities to ecosystems.
