Green Buildings

The Energy Department and the Department of the Navy worked together on the largest Energy Savings Performance Contract ever for the Naval Station Guantanmo Bay in Cuba in 2019.

This week the U.S. Green Building Council released its 2018 Top 10 States for LEED Green Building. See which of these states are home to the most LEED-certified buildings owned and leased by the General Services Administration.

The Energy Department and the General Services Administration see an uptick in energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) and utility energy service contracts (UESCs), while the Army, the biggest adopter of ESPCs, look to strengthen the resiliency of its electrical grid through these smart energy projects.

In the waning days of cubicle farms, researchers have recently come forward with new data that challenges some of the myths around open office designs.

The Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives is the service’s central hub for managing the financing and planning for “utility scale” renewable and alternative energy projects. Michael McGhee, OEI’s executive director, talks with Jared Serbu about some of the major projects in the pipeline, and the Army’s desire to use the power they generate to make its bases energy-independent.

Over the past five years, the Army has been busily building renewable power facilities on its bases in order to reach an overall goal of 1 gigawatt of renewable energy by 2025. But now, the Army is putting more of an emphasis on using that energy to make its bases entirely self-sufficient from the public electric grid, so they can continue to function in the event of an outage. Michael McGhee, executive director of the Army Office of Energy Initiatives, talked with Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu on Federal Drive with Tom Temin about the technologies the Army’s pursuing to make that a reality.

When it comes to executing an executive order, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says the phrase “the more the merrier” applies.

Navy Secretary says the maritime services haven’t devoted much attention to nuclear as a shore-side “alternative” energy option thus far, but it’s time to start.

Assistant Secretary of the Army Katherine Hammack is leading the Army’s charge toward more sustainable bases. The Army has some ambitious near-term goals for energy savings.

The Energy Department’s Federal Energy Management Program Office made four awards under its Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT) program to help agencies get over the hump on renewable energy projects.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took part in the opening ceremony Wednesday for the Great Green Fleet, a year-long initiative that demonstrates the sea service’s efforts to transform its energy use.

The Navy launched its year-long green initiative that will use alternative fuels and procurement practices to make the service more fuel efficient.

The associate administrator in the Office of Governmentwide Policy and acting chief of staff will become the new federal chief sustainability officer.

In the future, federal offices could be more like patios – where furniture is adjustable and moveable for whatever task or project is at hand, say experts at the General Services Administration. In our special report, The Federal Office of the Future, we examine the research behind the decision to make office spaces more flexible.