Cutting Government's Energy Consumption

Attention federal agencies already daunted by the prospect of meeting the requirements of President Bush's mandate to reduce energy consumption: Both Barack Obama and John McCain are looking to one-up the president.

The Washington Post reports today on McCain's speech yesterday on energy policy, in which he proposed to further reduce the government's consumption. Among the specific proposals: Buy nothing but flex-fuel capable, plug-in hybrid, or clean natural gas-powered cars for the federal fleet from here on out, and retrofit federal buildings with green technology.

Obama already has released his own plan to make new federal buildings 40 percent more efficient than current ones within five years, to boost the efficiency of existing buildings by 25 percent over the same period and to make sure government gets 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Of course, agencies have had their own green initiatives under way for years. David Bibb, the General Services Administration's acting administrator, has launched a "Summer of Green" tour of the country to highlight his agency's effort to push green procurement and policies. Among the facts he's touting: GSA already has helped agencies purchase more than 131,000 alternative fuel vehicles.

Government Executive will take a comprehensive look at how agencies across government are making efforts to go green in our August issue.