Oregon University System Plans Green Building

Portland State University is about to get a whole lot greener, but no one is planting trees. The University of Oregon system is planning something much bigger: a $90 million, 220,000-square-foot building called the Oregon Sustainability Center, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

The building will be next to PSU's campus in the heart of Portland and will house auditoriums, classrooms, meeting spaces, and some school-affiliated offices.

What makes it so "green"? To start, there will be shifting temperatures and limits on water and electrical outlet use.

"My biggest concern from a risk-management factor is: Is this thing going to be such a freak that nobody will want to live in it or work in it?" Jay Kenton, the Oregon University System's vice chancellor for finance and administration, told the Chronicle.

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