The Evergreen State College’s Center for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI) focuses on advancing a new sustainable infrastructure approach in the Northwest and beyond. Based in Olympia, WA, CSI links regional innovators, advocates sustainable best practices, and develops skilled professionals to create innovative, affordable, and sustainable solutions for upgrading and maintaining energy, transportation, water, and waste systems. The United States will need to spend an estimated $3.6 trillion on various public works systems by 2020, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 report card, and the CSI aims to see that money spent wisely and with an eye toward the environment.
The CSI has released two reports since its inception in December 2013: Infrastructure Crisis, Sustainable Solutions and Rewiring the Northwest’s Energy Infrastructure. The latter report, the first in the CSI’s “Five Big Goals for 2040” research series, shows how the Northwest can advance an affordable, resilient and integrated energy system, mostly powered by renewable energy and uniting currently segregated electrical, transportation, and heating sectors with an integrated infrastructure strategy directed at the state level. The report draws on interviews with dozens of Northwest energy experts and uncovers the seismic shifts ahead for an energy system now broken into discrete silos and little changed from a century ago.
