David Winstead, GSA's commissioner of the public buildings service, testified before a House of Representatives committee about the agency's activities in this area, offering his own ideas for promoting green development. Winstead's efforts--and his counterparts in other federal agencies--can have a significant impact on the environment, he testified.
"The federal government is the largest single consumer of energy in the United States," Winstead said. "According to the Department of Energy, federal buildings account for 37% of the government's energy usage, use as much as 1.5% of the nation's electricity and emit about 2% of all US building-related greenhouse gases."
According to Winstead, GSA started requiring all capital projects to achieve LEED Silver standards in 2003. The agency now has 75 projects registered for LEED certification and has earned LEED ratings in 25 buildings, of which 11 are GSA owned and 14 are leased. Three buildings, one of which is government owned, have earned LEED Gold ratings: the Suitland Federal Center in Suitland, MD, and One and Two Potomac Yards in Arlington, VA, which are leased to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Winstead ended his testimony with a plea for further autonomy in managing its affairs. In 2006, 4.5% of the agency's electricity was generated from renewable sources or bought through renewable energy certificates, he said, noting the national average is 2.3%. "If given the authority to extend our utility contracts from 10 to 20 years…we could achieve even more," he added.
Currently, GSA may enter into contracts with public utilities for 10 years, Winstead explained, but renewable power plant developers often need an energy purchase contract of up to 20 years in order to finance and develop increased capacity. "Without the authority to contract for energy from renewable energy providers for more than 10 years, GSA is unable to benefit from the relatively inexpensive energy they would generate and unable to use the government's purchasing power to spur new renewable energy production," he said. "Our proposal, currently before Congress, would continue to allow GSA to enter into contract for public utility services for periods not more than 10 years, but the provision would also allow GSA to enter into contracts for renewable energy utility services for periods up to 20 years."
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
