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Two years before President Obama took office and in the midst of some heated arguments on global warming president George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13423. The order created on January 24, 2007, establish goals for the Executive branch in its use of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as:

Using renewable energy, reducing water consumption, purchasing sustainable materials, reducing the use of toxic and hazardous goods, designing new buildings that are sustainable, reducing the use of petroleum, and requirements to use energy efficient tools.

Recently, on October 5, 2009, President Obama signed a new order that “builds on and expands the energy reduction and environmental requirements” of the previous order. This new order raises the bar but, in an overarching view, doesn’t drastically add to the requirements laid out by former President Bush.

Nonetheless, its still a landmark order in the government landscape, establishing such requirements as:

• 30% reduction in vehicle fleet petroleum use by 2020
• 50% recycling and waste diversion by 2015
• 95% of all applicable contracts will meet sustainability requirements
• Implementation of the 2030 net-zero-energy building requirement (buildings that emit no GHG’s)

As this order is implemented, President Obama has asked that every Federal agency set a GHG reduction target within 90 days (January 5, 2010). Then within 240 days, they are to develop a longer term plan for the larger projects involved with those agencies.

This is definitely an exciting time as the ‘energy’ for green initiatives in the Federal government is ‘building’

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