The Greening of GSA Continues

By Robert Brodsky

Major changes afoot today at the General Services Administration. The Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings has moved from the Public Buildings Service to GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy. The move builds on an executive order issued by President Obama in October 2009 calling on agencies to lead by example in greening and modernizing the nation's infrastructure.

Established in 2007, the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings sets policies and standards for building construction, operations, and maintenance across the government. Kevin Kampschroer, who has served as acting head of the office since its inception, will now serve as its permanent director.

"GSA continues to answer President Obama's call to create a more sustainable government by becoming a leader in innovative, greener solutions and technologies for federal agencies," said GSA Administrator Martha Johnson. "As part of Governmentwide Policy, the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings will broaden its reach to provide federal agencies with the necessary measurement tools and policies they need to meet their own sustainability mandates under the executive order."

In addition, GSA's Public Buildings Service has established a new position of chief greening officer. Scott Conner, director of the Denver Federal Center for GSA's Rocky Mountain region, will act in the position temporarily until a permanent chief greening officer is named.

"PBS's new chief greening officer will accelerate our momentum to drive sustainability by aggressively seeking out and incorporating proven greener, more efficient building technologies and practices throughout our entire inventory of 1,500 owned and 8,000 leased buildings," said Robert Peck, GSA's commissioner of Public Buildings. "The chief greening officer will deliver our goal of becoming a 'green proving ground' for the American building industry by measuring the cost-, resource- and greenhouse gas-reduction effectiveness of myriad innovative green design, construction, and management approaches."