Intel makes a play for green building market

Intel Corp. may be best known for computer chips, but the technology giant is quickly making a name for itself in an area dear to Oregonians: green building.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, which has its biggest presence in Washington County, is a critical part of the effort to build the proposed Oregon Sustainability Center.

Architects and engineers want to completely eliminate the building’s carbon footprint, meaning it wouldn’t have any impact on the energy grid.

If it comes to fruition, it would be one of the most advanced green buildings in the world. If approved by the City of Portland, the center is slated for construction beginning next year on the Portland State University campus. It would cost around $93 million.

In order for designers to erase the building's carbon impact, they need to figure out how to get the people who work in the building to behave in an environmentally friendly way.

That's where Intel comes in.

The $43.6 billion company is spending some of its mountain of available cash — $16.7 billion at the end of 2010 — on the development of computer systems that can help workers and homeowners reduce energy use.

Early this year, the company announced a partnership with the French company Cap Gemini SA to build a tablet-style computer that lets consumers adjust the energy use of appliances.

A BusinessWeek story about the partnership quoted ABI Research, which predicted a $46 billion market for such smart grid computers by 2015.

Some examples of how Intel’s technology could be used at the proposed Oregon Sustainability Center: A worker who prefers a warm conference room could boot up a laptop and get real-time information about the temperature in various rooms of the building.

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