White House.gov Blog Feed: Council on Environmental Quality

Lighting the Path toward Energy Efficiency

Michelle Moore — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:50:42 +0000

As dusk set on January 30th Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu flipped the switch illuminating the capitol mall with energy efficient lighting. The Mall's 174 lamps, originally installed in 1936, were retrofitted with light emitting diodes (LEDs). The LED lighting provides a brighter glow using less energy.

Tourists and joggers using the elm path, underneath the LED lighting, with the Capitol Building in the background.

Many cities have installed LEDs in public spaces and are already taking advantage of the benefits, and the Federal government continues to lead by example by installing LEDs and implementing other energy efficient measures.

The lighting installation on the Mall provides a 65 percent savings on electric bills and maintenance costs incurred by the National Park Service. The brighter light from the LEDs, as compared to the old bulbs, will also help to create a more secure park area.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu noted that "Using energy-efficient LED light bulbs is an important way Americans can save money by saving energy." Secretary Chu also commented that "Investing in an American economy that is built to last includes taking advantage of all of America's energy resources while working to improve efficiency. Installing these energy-efficient bulbs on the National Mall is an important demonstration of our commitment to partnering with the private sector to promote energy saving technologies." The bulbs are expected to last 25 years.

Close up of one of the 174 LED Retrofit Kits for Outdoor Lighting on the National Mall.

View Slideshow: Flipping the Switch on LED Lighting for the National Mall.

Michelle Moore is Federal Environmental Executive at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Praise for Charting a New Direction on National Forests

Tom Tidwell — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:50 +0000

Editor's Note: Tom Tidwell is Chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

Last week, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and I announced our intent for finalizing a new planning rule to govern management of the National Forest System. The 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands are critical to President Obama’s vision of an economy built to last, providing clean air, clean water, habitat for wildlife, opportunities for healthy outdoor recreation, jobs and growth in rural communities, and a range of other benefits for all Americans.

When finalized, a new rule will replace outdated procedures that have been in place since 1982 that no longer reflect the best science, public values, or agency expertise. Land management plan revisions under the preferred alternative would cost less money and take less time, while protecting and restoring our forests, water and wildlife and supporting vibrant rural communities.

We listened to input from the public to develop the preferred course of action, included as the preferred alternative in the final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement released last week. We hosted the most collaborative and transparent rule-making process in agency history, and carefully considered more than 300,000 public comments.

Here is what some of our partners and interested members of the public have said about the preferred alternative:

"In the early 1980’s, I was a forest planner attempting to implement what was then the new planning rule. I believed it was a good rule, and for its time, it was. But the 1982 rule is out of date for today’s circumstances. Today, the Forest Service is focused on restoration, including restoring fire dependent ecosystems to a more natural condition. This new preferred alternative protects our natural resources, promotes sustainable recreation and safeguards our precious drinking water while allowing for timber harvest and facilitating restoration.

The preferred alternative modernizes the planning process. It promotes a collaborative approach where people are engaged throughout the entire process all the way to implementation. It is the outcome of extensive public engagement, including hundreds of thousands of comments and thousands of people participating in roundtable discussions around the country. When the final decision is published, the Forest Service needs an opportunity to implement a new planning rule for the benefit of the American people."

~ Dale Bosworth, Former Chief of the U.S. Forest Service

"It is vital that the Planning Rule be modernized to enrich the contribution of a local National Forest or Grassland, within the context of its statutory mandates and obligations, to natural resource conservation at the landscape level. The preferred alternative will facilitate the contribution of the individual National Forest or Grassland to statewide and regional fish and wildlife conservation objectives.

A modernized rule provides for better integration of National Forest System management with other landscape conservation initiatives such as the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures, National Fish Habitat Partnerships, and in facilitating fish, wildlife and plant adaptation response to climate change. The State Fish and Wildlife Agencies look forward to greater successful delivery of conservation on the ground through implementation of the new planning rule."

~ Gary Taylor, Legislative Director, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

“The National Forest System is a haven for Americans seeking a stronger connection with their families and nature through healthy outdoor recreational pursuits. The preferred alternative will support these sustainable recreational experiences, and will increase the involvement of the public in planning efforts.

We expect this new collaborative process to result in better, more broadly supported outcomes for these treasured public lands and their enjoyment. We look forward to working with the U.S. Forest Service on the first plan revisions carried out under a new rule when it is finalized in the near future.”

~ Kevin Colburn, National Stewardship Director, American Whitewater

“Forests cover one-third of the United States; store and filter half the nation’s water supply; provide jobs to more than a million wood products workers; absorb nearly 20% of U.S. carbon emissions; offer 650 million acres of recreational lands that generate well over $15 billion in economic activity annually; and provide habitat for thousands of species across the country. Yet our forests today face a “perfect storm” of threats, including catastrophic wildfires, outbreaks of pests and disease, poorly planned roads, increasing development, climate change, and policies that lead to gridlock rather than restoration.

A new Forest Planning Rule is sorely needed, and the preferred alternative is a positive proposal based on extensive public participation. It will allow plans to be developed more efficiently. The preferred alternative encourages restoration treatments that are needed to catch up to the problems our forests face. And it strengthens science requirements, giving science a clear role that can bring stakeholders together to strengthen long-term forest conservation. Most people born in 1982 have kids by now; it’s time for a new generation of Forest Planning, too.”

~ Laura McCarthy, Senior Forest Policy Lead, The Nature Conservancy

Tom Tidwell is Chief of the U.S. Forest Service

State of the Union: Investing in our Nation's Youth

Nancy Sutley — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:00:24 +0000

As President Obama noted on Tuesday in his State of the Union address, "the easiest way to save money is to waste less energy." It's also true that the cleanest energy in the world is energy that we don't use at all. Last week, I traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, to visit North High School, where the school district's energy upgrades have saved them 20 percent on their energy bills even as air conditioning in their classrooms has increased by 40 percent. Overall, Des Moines Public Schools saved $370,000 in energy costs last year alone – enough to pay the salary of almost 10 first-year teachers. At North High I met an outstanding group of students busy preparing for the future. They were clear that their renovated and upgraded school was creating a better learning environment.

Principal Matt Smith presents Chair Sutley with a Polar Bears jersey. (Photo Credit: Des Moines Public Schools)

North High's example is exactly the kind of smart investment in clean energy the President proposed in his State of the Union last week. He laid out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last—an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values. No American value is more fundamental than living up to the promise of our Nation's youth. We will continue to push for investing in modern, healthy school environments for our students, and training and programs that will help them succeed in the 21st century economy.

Chair Sutley engages with North High School Advanced Placement students on the President's clean energy goals for the Nation. (Photo Credit: Des Moines Public Schools)

Nancy Sutley is Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

A Shining Example from the Sunshine State

Taryn Tuss — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:00:00 +0000

This week, CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley joined Mayor Jeri Muoio in West Palm Beach to tour Northboro Elementary School – a recently modernized LEED Gold certified school that's gaining attention as a model for smart investment in sustainability. Northboro is a great example of how investing in modernization helps schools direct money to their classrooms instead of their energy bills. The elementary school has saved more than 16 percent in energy costs -- enough to pay for at least one teacher each year -- through upgrades including advanced lighting and ventilation systems.

Schools spend more than $6 billion annually on their energy bills -- more than they spend on computers and textbooks combined. The average public school building in the United States is more than 40 years old, and many struggle with old, inefficient, or broken heating and cooling systems and a host of other challenges, from crumbling roofs to outdated textbooks. As the President said: "We can't expect American kids to do their best in places that are falling apart. This is America. Every kid deserves a great school -- and we can give it to them." That's why, in the American Jobs Act, the President proposed a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure to modernize at least 35,000 public schools across the country. The funds would provide for a range of emergency repair and renovation projects, energy efficiency upgrades, asbestos abatement and removal, new science and computer labs, and internet-ready classrooms – and put 16,000 Americans back to work making those upgrades.

Modernizing our schools makes sense for American students, and makes sense for schools' bottom lines. Northboro Elementary is a clear example of how this investment would create jobs, improve classrooms, and bring our schools into the 21st century.

Chair Nancy Sutley meets with school leadership at Northboro Elementary School in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Taryn Tuss is Acting Communications Director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

View of a Healthier Future

Howard Learner — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:15:00 +0000

Editor's Note: Howard A. Learner is President and Executive Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center based in Chicago, IL.

Recently the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) and a group of Chicago-area public health and environmental leaders sat down with Chair Nancy Sutley and Representative Danny Davis (IL-7) to discuss the Administration's work to protect clean air, the Great Lakes and our environment. From the ELPC's office in downtown Chicago where the meeting was held, we have a view of the Chicago River, the blue-green waters of Lake Michigan, and the smokestacks of an old coal plant along the shoreline on the Illinois/Indiana border.

Many Midwest coal plants were built back in the Eisenhower and Kennedy years, and have not yet been retrofitted with modern pollution control equipment. These plants continue to emit large amounts of pollutants that harm public health. In particular, coal plants are the largest source of mercury pollution in the Great Lakes. Public health officials have issued "mercury advisories" for almost every river, lake and stream in the Midwest/Great Lakes states. It's become the reality that people are warned not to eat the fish they catch.

Mercury is a neurotoxin that, when ingested by pregnant women who eat contaminated fish, enters the bloodstream, crosses the placental barrier and impairs fetal brain development, thereby causing mental and physical harms. Installing modern and widely-available pollution control technologies can reduce more than 90% of the mercury pollution that is harming both children's health and our environment.

At our meeting, Chair Sutley discussed the importance of EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, issued last week, that provide both economic and environmental benefits while protecting public health and the Great Lakes. These are the first national standards to require use of modern control technologies to reduce mercury, arsenic, lead, hydrochloric acid and other hazardous air pollutants from coal plants. These standards were called for by the Clean Air Act Amendments more than 20 years ago and level the playing field for the many utilities that have already invested in modern mercury pollution control technologies.

In 2006 the Illinois Pollution Control Board adopted mercury pollution standards of its own, which required all coal plants to install technologies to reduce mercury pollution by 90% or more by 2009 and 2013. As expected, some coal plant owners made the same overblown arguments about reliability threats, costs and so forth that we are now hearing again. What then happened in Illinois? The coal plant owners complied, mercury pollution dropped significantly, the lights stayed on, utility rates didn't go up, and there was no a wave of plants shutting down. Most importantly, the health and safety of our children was protected.

A broad coalition of medical, public health, outdoor recreation, environmental, faith-based and community organizations have come together to support the Administration's adoption of the EPA Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Implementing these pollution reduction standards are proven to improve public health, create new jobs, drive technological innovations and transition our nation to a cleaner energy future.

Simply put, it's time to move forward with these common sense standards to protect children's health and our rivers and Great Lakes for all.

Howard A. Learner is President and Executive Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center based in Chicago, IL

At Treasury, Green is Our Favorite Color – But We'll Take (LEED) Gold!

Dan Tangherlini — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:30:14 +0000

Editor’s Note: This blog was cross-posted from the U.S. Department of the Treasury Blog.

When you think about a “green” building, you probably don’t picture a centuries-old National Historic Landmark that’s lined with columns and made of thousands of tons of granite.

Well, maybe that’s about to change. I'm pleased to announce that the Treasury Building – which dates back to the 19th century and is located right next door to the White House – received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) at a ceremony today in our historic Grant Room.

According to the USGBC, the Treasury Building is believed to be the oldest building in the world to receive LEED certification. The fact that the home of much our nation’s financial history has achieved this distinction for environmental leadership really adds new meaning to the term ‘green’ building.

LEED is a leading international standard for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. The Treasury Building received its LEED Gold certification based on a number of green construction and operation features, including:

•Increasing the use of natural day lighting to reduce energy consumption;
•Establishing sustainable cleaning and landscape programs;
•Developing and implementing advanced control and management of the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems;
•Conducting waste stream audits to benchmark recycling programs and identify opportunities to maximize material conservation;
•Creating a green procurement program for materials, equipment and services purchased
•Increasing occupant space utilization;
•Augmenting alternate transportation means; and
•Establishing enhanced utility metering for improved systems management

These improvements are paying big dividends. Not just for the environment, but also for the Department’s bottom line – because going green saves green for taxpayers. Project results, which are producing an estimated $3.5 million in energy and lease cost savings annually, include:

•A 43 percent decrease in the use of potable water
•A 7 percent decrease in electrical usage
•A 53 percent decrease in the use of steam
•The addition of 164 additional workstations within the building

The fact that we’ve been able to achieve those types of results is particularly significant given the unique historical and architectural features of the Treasury Building.

The Treasury Building is more than two city blocks long and was constructed over a period of 33 years between 1836 and 1869. The east and center wings – which comprise the oldest portion of the structure – were designed by Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument, and were built between 1836 to 1842. It’s the third-oldest federal building in Washington D.C., after the White House and the U.S. Capitol, and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1972.

We’re proud of the improvements we’ve made around the Treasury Building – both big and small – to help reduce our environmental footprint and save taxpayer dollars. They’re part of a broader Administration-wide effort, which includes President Obama’s recent $2 billion commitment to energy upgrades of federal buildings using long term energy savings to pay for up-front costs, at no cost to taxpayers.

But Treasury’s environmental initiatives represent just a few of the steps we’ve taken to cut waste and improve efficiency.

•We’re continuing to transition to electronic payments for federal beneficiaries and retirees, which will save more than $500 million over the first five years. That also has a significant environmental benefit by converting approximately 135 million paper check payments to electronic payments per year.
•Last week, Vice President Biden and Secretary Geithner announced that the United States Mint is suspending production of surplus Presidential $1 Coins for circulation, which will save at least $50 million annually over the next several years.
•The Department’s work to increase e-filing of tax returns will save more than $100 million over five years.
•A set of projects we’re implementing to consolidate IT services will save an estimated $125 million over five years.
•Earlier this year, Treasury received “green” ratings across-the-board on its energy and sustainability scorecard from the Office of Management and Budget and White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Of course, we’re not satisfied with those initiatives alone. And, moving forward, we’ll continue to work to identify additional ways to save money for taxpayers and improve our Department’s environmental efficiency. (As you might be able to tell, we’re pretty competitive when it comes to our environmental sustainability efforts here at Treasury.)

For now, though, receiving LEED GOLD certification is a certainly welcome achievement and represents the culmination of a lot of hard work by a number of dedicated public servants here at the Department.

At Treasury, green is our favorite color – but we’ll take gold!

Dan Tangherlini is Assistant Secretary for Management, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Performance Officer, and Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The Role of Women in Combating Climate Change

Ambassador Verveer — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Editor's Note: Ambassador Melanne Verveer is U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues

Last week I traveled to Durban, South Africa to participate in the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to highlight the critical and largely untapped potential of women to combat climate change. Studies have shown that it is often women who are on the frontlines of, and suffer disproportionately from, the impacts of climate change. This is certainly important. But we must remember that women are also a powerful force for finding solutions to climate change across the board, including in areas such as agriculture, sustainable forest management, and energy access.

Agriculture, which accounts for approximately 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is a sector that can be particularly sensitive to climate variability and change, is one key area where women can play a major role. A recent FAO report shows that women, in many places, are the main producers of the world's staple crops, particularly in developing countries and regions likely to be adversely affected by climate change impacts. However, globally, only a small minority of women farmers have access to land tenure. This is a problem for many reasons – including that it limits women's potential to combat climate change. Studies have shown that women with the right to property are significantly more capable of investing in climate-smart agricultural productivity; we have a lot of work to do to unlock women's potential in this area.

Women also have untapped potential for increasing energy access, which directly relates to climate change. For example, nearly 3 billion people globally still rely on traditional cookstoves and open fires to prepare food for their families. In most instances, women are responsible for cooking – not to mention also spending many hours per week collecting fuel, which often puts women at risk of gender based violence. The resulting smoke exposure causes an estimated two million premature deaths annually, with women and young children the most affected. Cookstoves also impact the climate through emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived particles such as black carbon. Engaging women is critical to tackling this problem. As we work to build a global market for clean cookstoves, integrating women into the cookstoves supply chain will help increase clean cookstove adoption rates while also creating new economic development opportunities. And as Secretary Clinton has noted, women create a multiplier effect in local communities because they disproportionately spend more of their earned income on food, healthcare, home improvement, and schooling.

The United States recognizes the power of women's potential in these areas and many others, and is investing in major initiatives including Feed the Future and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, where women's role in generating transformative change is front and center.

I went to Durban to highlight the critical role of women in combating climate change. While there, I worked with U.S. negotiators on the Durban texts and participated in public engagement events. Our efforts to build on the gender equality and women's empowerment language in the Cancun agreements are reflected in several crucial institutional developments, including language on gender balance related to the composition of the board of the new Green Climate Fund, the Standing Committee, and the Adaptation Committee. We also worked to reflect gender considerations in the mission of the Climate Technology Center and Network. USAID Assistant Administrator Eric Postel and I solicited input during a meeting with leading non-governmental organizations working on gender and climate issues, and I hosted a high-level side event at the U.S. Center focused on unlocking women's potential to combat climate change. The level of enthusiasm among my fellow panelists and the audience at the event was inspirational.

We made progress in Durban, but we can't stop here. To achieve the future we all seek, we must do more. As the late Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement and ground-breaking advocate on women and the environment said, "We must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist." The future of not only women, but our planet, depends on it.

Ambassador Melanne Verveer is U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues

Building Partnerships, Conserving Lands

Michael Rouse — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:30:11 +0000

Editor's Note: Michael Rouse is Vice President, Philanthropy and Community Affairs at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., which together with CEQ, EPA and the nonprofit National Environmental Education Foundation, announced grant funding today for community-based organizations around the nation that are supporting public lands.

As part of Toyota's commitment to our nation's environment and public lands, today we announced that we have made a $3 million grant to the National Environmental Education Foundation to improve the capacity of community-based organizations, often called "friends groups", who are helping to protect and preserve our public lands. We made our announcement today at Baltimore's Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, joined by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley, NEEF President Diane Wood and Baltimore students and residents who are proud to have this public land in their city.

The organizations that support parks and other public lands are invaluable to maintaining and promoting them in their hometowns, but they often lack the resources they need for this critical work. The Toyota grant will support these local organizations in becoming as effective as possible in their work on public lands, whether it's a small city green space or one of our treasured national parks.

Supporting these groups' efforts in communities across the country makes us proud. Their dedication and initiative are tremendous. We have seen this interest in protecting our public lands grow with more than 170,000 volunteers participating in NEEF's annual National Public Lands Day, of which Toyota has been the national sponsor for what will be the 14th consecutive year in 2012.

The public-private partnership that this grant represents echoes President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative, which encourages grassroots, community-based conservation. We hope other members of the business community will join us in supporting the great work of these groups and their volunteers, who exemplify the spirit of this nation.

For more information about the Toyota grant and NEEF's Every Day Grants program for these organizations, please visit www.neefusa.org.

Michael Rouse is Vice President, Philanthropy and Community Affairs at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.

A New Tool for Ocean Planners

Jay Jensen — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Today the Administration launched ocean.data.gov, a new portal that gives all Americans transparent access to the same data and information that Federal agencies have about our oceans and coasts. The portal collects all of the latest Federal ocean data and planning tools in one place, and makes them available to the public to serve as a one-stop hub for anyone who wants to use it—from fisheries management councils, to businesses, to state and local governments, to regional planners, to you.

Click here to read the blog post announcing ocean.data.gov.

Here's what members of the ocean and coastal community have to say about the new tool:

"The new Ocean.Data.gov website brings together a huge amount of previously difficult to access data in one place. It will become an essential source of information for managers of coastal resources and communities, researchers, students, and interested citizens who are seeking to understand the US coastal ocean, one of our nation’s most valuable natural resources."
Andrew A Rosenberg, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Conservation International

"I envision using the site as a resource for updating data for which I don’t have direct access such as distribution of fishing effort and survey catches. This portal will allow me to ensure I have the best available information when helping to develop fishery management plans."
James Armstrong, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council

"Supporting the health of our oceans will require that we breakdown silos and ensure that all stakeholders and agencies are working with open and clear collaboration--as I called for in my bill Oceans 21. This portal is a great step forward in that direction. I want to commend the Obama Administration for taking action to better coordinate data collection and communication, which will ultimately result in increased efficiency and improved conservation of our marine resources."
Congressman Sam Farr, Co-Chair of the House Oceans Caucus

"This portal may very well be an outstanding tool for states and federal agencies to utilize to make sure information is readily available to the public at a single, easy to access and navigate through site."
Bill Walker, Chair of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Management Team and Executive Director of the MS Department of Marine Resources

"The new National ocean data portal allows diverse American ocean stakeholders a one-stop shop for easy access to the ocean data and information produced by multiple agencies. It’s a great start with its built in features that offer the opportunity to join a community to advise government on how to make it better, and how to ensure that our ocean continues to provide the goods and services that people want and need."
Jay Odell, Mid-Atlantic Marine Program Director, The Nature Conservancy

"The National Ocean Council is finally breaking through some of the barriers that have prevented this kind of seamless data sharing in the past."
Doug Myers, Director of Science, People for Puget Sound

"The National Ocean Data Portal provides for the first time a single access point to coastal and marine data hosted by the various federal agencies. It will be immediately useful to ocean managers and industries, and provides a model for other regional and state information networks."
Nick Napoli, Director of Marine Planning Programs, Seaplan

"This is the best data portal I have seen yet. This portal provides valuable one-stop shopping for ocean data and a useful hub to build relationships with other members of the community."
Justin Manley, Senior Director, Business Development, Teledyne Benthos

Jay Jensen is Associate Director for Land & Water Ecosystems at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Opening Our Oceans With Data.Gov

John P. Holdren and Aneesh Chopra — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:45:51 +0000

[Ed. Note: Cross-posted from the National Ocean Council blog]

Today, we are pleased to announce the release of ocean.data.gov, the newest community on Data.gov. This effort is the result of two important initiatives of the Obama Administration: the development and implementation of the National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and the Great Lakes and the creation of Data.gov to make Federal data more accessible to the American people.

Since President Obama signed the Executive Order establishing a National Ocean Policy, the Administration has been working steadily to implement this policy. One cornerstone of the policy is the Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning, a science-based, regional planning process conducted jointly with states and tribes that guarantees the public and stakeholders a voice in decisions affecting the ocean. Making the science that is available to the Federal Government accessible to all ocean users is a key to the success of this initiative. That's why the National Ocean Council has teamed with the Data.gov initiative to create an open and accessible website that houses and references a wealth of information and tools available to support ocean planning efforts.

A Student's Clear Lesson on Clean Air

Naomi Shah — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:00:00 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Naomi Shah, the sixteen-year-old winner of the Google science fair for her project focusing on the effects of air quality on asthma, and the importance of clean air in ensuring human health.

After watching both my dad and brother suffer from chronic allergies year-round, I was driven to find out why their symptoms persisted well past the pollen season. I started researching and found that the culprit was indoor air pollutants, which can also be influenced by outdoor air pollutants. I also discovered that people spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors, and that the economic burden of asthma exceeds that of AIDS and Tuberculosis combined.

As soon as I realized this, I found myself investigating the underlying relationship between four pollutants and the lung health of asthmatic patients. At first, I just wanted to find out which pollutants had the biggest impact on lung health. But soon after, I developed a novel mathematical model which can be used by doctors and environmental specialists to quantify the effect of the pollutants on the lung function as measured by the peak expiratory flow rate-- which is essentially how much a person can breathe out in one breath.

What surprised me is that no model currently quantifies this relationship between environmental pollutants and lung health. I independently designed experimental methods that are scientific and HIPPA compliant and I studied the air quality and lung health in over 100 human test subjects in the Portland-metro area. Identifying which pollutants impact them the most can improve treatment and target remediation efforts.

I have participated in many science fairs since middle school; however, being a finalist winner in Google's Inaugural Global Science Fair opened many doors, including meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office in October 2011! Additional highlights of our trip to DC included meeting EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Directors of the National Institute of Health, and other government officials. I was very inspired by everyone I met on my trip to Washington, DC and was honored that so many people had heard about my research and believed that as a high-school student, I could impact many lives.

Yet, despite all the evidence implicating both indoor and outdoor air pollution's harmful impact on public health, we still have so much to do to clean up our act. We have the technology to clean up the unhealthiest sources of air pollution, and my research reiterated for me that we can't afford to wait too long to clear the air. I believe that as citizens and as a nation, we have a responsibility to provide for the common good and the common health. As long as we have the will to defend our right to clean air, we can ensure a brighter and healthier future.

Naomi Shah is the sixteen-year-old winner of this year's Google science fair.

The President's Big Boost to Sacramento's Green Economy

Kevin Johnson — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:22:52 +0000

Editor’s note: This blog introduces readers to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. Mayor Johnson is one of 60 CEOs, mayors, university presidents, and labor leaders who joined President Obama today in announcing nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next 2 years.

I just finished one of the most important meetings in my term as Mayor of Sacramento. Last night, I took a red-eye flight and rushed this morning to the White House for a meeting with President Obama, former President Clinton and 60 university presidents, CEOs and elected leaders from around the country.

The topic? Jobs -- and the incredible opportunity Sacramento has by partnering with President Obama in his plan to invest nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades for our nation's commercial buildings through the Better Buildings Initiative.

This outstanding news could not have come at a better time. Sacramento is one of five cities that has taken the President’s Better Buildings Challenge, which translates into new jobs in our construction industry, where the unemployment rate has topped 30 percent. That's what I mean when I talk about putting Sacramento on the map!

Thanks to President Obama and our work through our Greenwise initiative here in Sacramento, hundreds of workers from the Sacramento region will return to job sites and begin retrofitting commercial buildings, and eventually schools and government offices, making them more energy efficient. And the work won't be done at taxpayer expense. Private companies will finance the upfront costs, and they will be paid back through the energy savings that result from the improvements.

In Sacramento, we have committed to retrofitting 12 million feet of commercial property. And that's just the beginning. There's $100 million available for energy upgrades to property owners within the city, thanks to our partnership with Ygrene Energy Fund.

The Ygrene program translates to 1,500 jobs -- and that's before we add schools and universities to the program and achieve a 20 percent energy use reduction by 2020. The 1,500 jobs do not include the 4,100 paychecks that will be created by our new Entertainment and Sports Complex, which will be one of the greenest and most energy efficient civic centers in the world.

This is huge. Sacramento is thinking big, acting big and generating jobs in a big way through smart investment in energy efficiency.

Kevin Johnson is Mayor of the City of Sacramento.

Voice of an Innovator: Equipping Students for 21st Century Jobs

John J. "Ski" Sygielski — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:00:38 +0000

Editor's note: This blog introduces readers to John J. Sygielski, President of Harrisburg Area Community College in Central Pennsylvania. Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley met with students and educators at the college's green jobs training facility.

At Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC), Central Pennsylvania's Community College, we have a long tradition of understanding the educational and training needs of our local industries. We also understand that preparing our students to meet these needs can dramatically increase their chances of securing good jobs when they leave our program.

From left, Cindy Reiner, HACC Dean of Workforce Training; HACC President John J. Sygielski; and CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley. The three engage in a roundtable discussion on initiatives that are helping to lead students to the 21st century clean energy economy.

President Obama's American Jobs Act would invest $5 billion in modernizing community colleges across the country. In addition to making sure colleges are equipped to prepare our students for 21st century job opportunities, modernizing schools will create jobs in the very industries we are training our students for – jobs assessing the energy use of old buildings, and installing green technologies that save schools energy and money.

Pennsylvania has a number of old industrial sites that need to be reclaimed, restored and put back into alternative use. That's why we offer a brownfields program that trains the technicians who can inspect and remediate the old factory sites and return them to useful life. And because of the growing demand for renewable energy and energy efficiency equipment and services, our college offers training programs in green technologies like photovoltaic technology and geothermal heating and cooling systems; technician training in wind power; and certificate programs for building analysts and energy auditors. In a key example of how these programs meet real-world gaps in the workforce, one of our photovoltaic technology professors uses the training program to recruit employees for his own solar manufacturing company.

In the end, we embrace green technologies because they are good for our students, for our communities and for our environment. We see great promise for future growth in these industries, and we know that our students will be prepared to take advantage of these new opportunities.

John J. “Ski” Sygielski, EdD is President of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, and Immediate Past President of the American Association of Community Colleges

A Big Step Forward on Environmental Justice

Nancy Sutley — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:00:13 +0000

Every American deserves to live in a community that fosters health and prosperity. Yet all too often, low-income and minority families live in the shadows of some of the worst pollution in the Nation, leading to higher rates of diseases like asthma, cancer, and heart disease, and threatening the economic potential of their communities. The Obama Administration is committed to addressing these disparities.

Now, Federal agencies are releasing their Environmental Justice Strategies for public comment. These strategies are tailored to agencies' individual missions, and serve as a road map that will help integrate environmental justice into the programs they run, the policies they make, and the activities they engage in. By identifying potential ways that their work may have disproportionally adverse health and environmental effects on low-income and minority populations, as well as proposing strategies to address the inequalities, Federal agencies are advancing this Administration's unwavering commitment to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to live in healthy and safe communities.

The release of the draft Environmental Justice Strategies is just the latest step in Administration-wide efforts to ensure all Americans are protected from environmental and health hazards. In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued an executive order directing federal agencies to participate in a government-wide effort to address environmental justice issues. The Obama Administration revitalized this effort by reconvening the Interagency Environmental Justice Working Group for the first time in more than a decade, engaging community members at a White House Forum on Environmental Justice, and most recently, bringing Federal agency leaders together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice. It was through this MOU that agencies committed to developing Environmental Justice Strategies and releasing annual implementation reports.

Over the next few weeks, agencies will have open comment periods on their draft strategies to give the public a chance to weigh in. Federal agencies will review all public comments and take them into account before finalizing the strategies early next year. We look forward to hearing from you as we expand the conversation on environmental justice in pursuit of healthy communities for all Americans.

You can read the strategies and share your ideas here: http://www.epa.gov/oecaerth/environmentaljustice/interagency/iwg-compendium.html.

Nancy Sutley is Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Fort Monroe: A Symbol of our Past, a Promise for our Future

Mayor Molly Ward — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Molly Joseph Ward, Mayor of Hampton, Virginia.

There is a history lesson that all Americans should know, but it may not have been in your textbooks.

Just six weeks after the Civil War began, three slaves – Frank Baker, James Townsend and Shepard Mallory – escaped from behind Confederate lines and sought refuge at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. Commanding General Benjamin Butler refused to return the fugitives and declared the three men contraband of war. Soon, thousands of enslaved African Americans from all over the region descended on Fort Monroe in pursuit of freedom and sanctuary. This event fundamentally changed the meaning of the Civil War from states' rights to the immorality of slavery, and marked the beginning of the end of slavery in the United States.

Last week, President Obama signed an Executive Order designating Fort Monroe as a National Monument. Now, this 400 hundred year old site belongs to all Americans, and I hope all will have the chance to know its story, and appreciate its beauty.

From left, Adam Goodheart, Civil War Historian, Washington College; Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va.; Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va.; Mayor Molly Ward, Hampton, Va.; Interior Secretary Ken Salazar; Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Lacy Ward Jr., Director, Robert Russa Moton Museum, Farmville, Va.; and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.; watch President Barack Obama sign a Proclamation to designate Fort Monroe, in Hampton, Va., a National Monument under the Antiquities Act, in the Oval Office, Nov. 1, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

From 1609 until just a few months ago, Fort Monroe was an active military base built on the site known as Old Point Comfort. Here's a little bit about its remarkable history: In 1619, it's where the first Africans arrived in America. Hampton is also where, in 1624, the first African-American child was born, named William Tucker. Robert E. Lee was stationed at Fort Monroe, and Jefferson Davis was imprisoned there at the conclusion of the Civil War. Edgar Allen Poe and Harriet Tubman both spent time at Fort Monroe, and Abraham Lincoln stayed there during the assault on Norfolk, VA – the last time a sitting President was actively involved in a military campaign.

Hampton is a city of about 140,000 people located in the middle of what is known as "Hampton Roads," consisting of more than 1.6 million people in 17 municipalities. It is home to NASA Langley, Joint Base Langley Eustis, Hampton University and boasts 124 miles of shoreline and gorgeous beaches. Those of us fortunate enough to live here revere the water, our history and our wonderful location, but what our community treasures most of all is historic Fort Monroe.

President Obama's decision to designate Fort Monroe a National Monument secures the stature of the Fort in our Nation's history. It also ensures the Fort will remain a vibrant part of our region's economy. Hampton lost more than 5,000 jobs when the Army left the Fort in September. Now, with the work of the National Park Service and a state-led reuse plan, the campus should become a center for recreation, history, business and education. This fortress will continue to be a refuge for those who wish to revel in its natural and man-made beauty for its – and Hampton's – next 400 years.

Molly Joseph Ward is Mayor of Hampton, Virginia

Lending Federal Support as Communities Prepare for Impacts of Climate Change

Susan Ruffo — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Last week the Administration released a report that outlines how the Federal Government is expanding and strengthening the Nation's capacity to better understand, prepare for, and respond to the risks associated with climate change. From the Federal Government's perspective, adapting to the impacts of a changing climate is simply responsible risk management. Working together, communities and the Federal Government can reduce long-term risks and costs, including from projected increases in extreme weather events.

Here's what others have to say about the importance of this interagency work to build resilience and protect people, property and economies across the country:

Mayor Mark Mallory, Cincinnati, OH
"Climate scientists tell us that Cincinnati will experience more frequent and more severe storms as a result of climate change. More frequent and more severe summer heat waves are expected as well. The Cincinnati region is just beginning to identify the things that we will need to do to be prepared for these weather changes. Just like cities plan for natural disasters or outbreaks of the flu, we need to prepare for the effects of climate change."

Aaron N Durnbaugh, Climate Adaptation Coordinator, City of Chicago
"As a local government working to prepare our city, citizens and natural resources for a changing climate, the City of Chicago is encouraged to see the coordinated federal climate action presented in the 2011 progress report. The federal efforts supporting cities including building local resilience and making climate science accessible, will create the resilient, healthy and prosperous City envisioned by the Chicago Climate Action Plan and, in turn, the resilient nation envisioned by the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force."

Mark Tercek, President and CEO, Nature Conservancy
"We commend the Administration's Climate Change Adaptation Task Force on continued progress toward preparing our nation for coping with the impacts of climate change. We're pleased that the Administration continues to emphasize the essential role natural systems play in protecting Americans from climate impacts. As just one example, our barrier islands and floodplains have protected America's communities from storms for millennia and we need to ensure they continue to do so."

Laura Spanjian, Sustainability Director, City of Houston
"The City of Houston is beginning to implement adaptation strategies and tools to address the impacts and risks associated with climate changes that affect Houston's water resources and coastal zones, among other systems. Sustained funding from federal agencies will help cities employ proactive measures, instead of only short-term reactive measures that are detrimental to human livelihood, as well as being cost-prohibitive."

Brian Holland, Director of Climate Programs, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA
"The Council on Environmental Quality's Progress Report on Adaptation demonstrates the success achieved by federal agencies in building resilience in partnership with local communities. In working with our 550 local government members in the US, ICLEI has clearly identified a need for local-federal climate collaboration and has seen critical federal resources in action. This report lays the groundwork for continued partnership with the cities and counties that are on the front lines of extreme weather events and climate resilience."

J. Wayne Leonard, CEO, Entergy Corporation
"A meaningful discussion on climate change cannot stop at mitigation. The solutions must also include adapting to and resilience against its most negative consequences. Today's report recognizes that the livelihoods of people living in coastal communities, the sustainability of rich natural resources that support our economy and the security of residential, commercial and industrial assets are at great risk if we don't devise and implement plans to protect against, and recover from, the adverse effects associated with climate change."

Bennett Freeman, Vice President for Sustainability and Research, Calvert Investments
"Investing in climate preparations can create American jobs at home and spur exports abroad. We support efforts by the Administration to prepare for and respond to climate change impacts in vulnerable communities."

Jim Taft, Executive Director, Association of State Drinking Water Administrators
"ASDWA appreciates the efforts of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force in developing this Action Plan. We believe the six principal recommendations of the Action Plan (along with the various supporting actions) are sound and appropriate. In particular, the call for the compilation of the best available data/information, coupled with use of appropriate decision-making tools will be of considerable benefit to drinking water utilities as they consider meeting both the quantity and quality challenges posed by a changing climate. We also support the holistic approach to this challenge under the banner of integrated water resources management (e.g., promoting both efficient use of currently available water resources as well as careful consideration of future water resources). The Action Plan should prove beneficial to both drinking water utilities and state drinking water programs as they consider their future roles and actions."

Paul Fleming, Manager, Climate & Sustainability Group, Seattle Public Utilities
"Identifying, assessing and managing the risks and opportunities associated with climate change is not just about understanding the physical impacts of climate change, but also the managerial, technical and policy implications. From strengthening data observation systems, to calling for stronger coordination between federal and local governments to promoting flexible decision making, the National Action Plan reflects the multi-dimensional nature of the intersection between climate change and water."

Ken Kirk, Executive Director, National Association of Clean Water Agencies
"Climate change will affect water more than any other resource, and NACWA commends CEQ for recognizing the challenges facing wastewater utilities in adapting to and in mitigating the impacts of climate change. NACWA is especially pleased that CEQ recognizes the importance of integrated water resources management for managing these impacts, and the need for improved data to enable utilities to make better long-term decisions in the face of climate change. With utilities facing huge financial challenges as a result of the economic downturn, studies that help in planning for the additional costs and investment that climate change will necessitate are particularly helpful."

Susan Ruffo is Deputy Director for Climate Change Adaptation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Taking Action to Protect our Nation from Climate Change Impacts

Nancy Sutley, Jane Lubchenco, and Steve Fetter — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:25 +0000

Across the United States and the world, climate change is already affecting communities, livelihoods, and the environment. We must understand and adapt to a changing climate, including more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, drought and floods, and continued sea level rise. Taking action now to manage climate risks can be viewed as an insurance policy for the Nation's future health and economic prosperity. The Federal Government will work in partnership with states and local communities to help make our nation more resilient and prepared to address the challenges and opportunities that will arise from a changing climate.

By considering how climate change may affect people, businesses, and communities, as well as its own services, operations, and assets, the Federal Government will be in a better position to promote economic growth and enhance our security. Working with diverse stakeholders, Federal agencies are preparing for a range of climate and extreme weather impacts that put people, property, local economies, and ecosystems at risk.

To highlight these actions, today we are releasing a new report that outlines the Federal Government's progress in expanding and strengthening the Nation's capacity to better understand, prepare for, and respond to extreme events and other climate change impacts. This report, produced by the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, provides an update on actions in key areas of Federal adaptation, including: building resilience in local communities, safeguarding critical natural resources such as freshwater, and providing accessible climate information and tools to help decision-makers manage climate risks.

Click here to read the full 2011 report.

Based in part on numerous listening sessions and public outreach events with a wide range of stakeholders, "Federal Actions for a Climate Resilient Nation: Progress Report of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force," highlights the progress toward implementing those recommendations. This report follows the Task Force's October 2010 Progress Report to the President that recommended the Federal Government strengthen the Nation's capacity to better understand and manage climate-related risks.

The 2010 Progress Report identified freshwater resources as a priority area for greater attention. On June 2, 2011, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released a draft "National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate," for public review and comment. Today, CEQ also announced the final Action Plan that responds to public input. This final Plan will be the foundation for Federal agency efforts to manage freshwater resources as the climate changes. It is designed to help freshwater resource managers assure adequate water supplies, safeguard water quality and aquatic ecosystems, and protect human life, health and property.

Click here to read the full Managing Freshwater Action Plan.

The Obama Administration remains committed to protecting the Nation from the critical impacts of climate change. Responding to demand from local, state, and Tribal governments and communities, the Task Force will focus in coming years on reducing the Nation's vulnerability to extreme weather and climate events; enhancing regional coordination among Federal and non-Federal actors; strengthening and leveraging non-Federal partnerships; and implementing Federal agency adaptation planning. The Task Force will provide an update on Federal adaptation progress in March 2014, following the release of the 2013 National Climate Assessment Synthesis Report.

Nancy Sutley is Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Dr. Jane Lubchenco is Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Dr. Steve Fetter is Principal Assistant Director of Environment for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

We Can Clean the Air, Create Jobs and Power the Economy at the Same Time

Ralph Izzo — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:25:11 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Ralph Izzo, Chairman, President and CEO of Public Service Enterprise Group.

As one of the largest electricity generators in the U.S., we, at Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), believe that EPA's air pollutant regulations should be viewed as an opportunity to modernize the nation's electric power infrastructure. PSEG has been a long-time advocate of these Clean Air Act regulations and has put its money where its mouth is, investing over one and a half billion dollars in improvements to its coal-fired plants. These regulations will not only improve air quality for our nation's citizens, but will also create jobs and an active marketplace for emissions trading.

Frankly, action is long overdue. The air pollutant regulations proposed by EPA are in response to the D.C. Circuit's rejection of two rules (the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and the Clean Air Mercury Rule) originally proposed by the Bush Administration. Thus, these regulations do not come out of the blue. The regulatory process for regulating toxic air emissions commenced over two decades ago, and the court concluded CAIR was "fundamentally flawed" in 2008.

For our part at PSEG, we believed it made good business sense to be proactive in positioning our generation fleet to meet what the rules would require. During the past five years, we have invested more than $2 billion to replace inefficient, older generating units and upgrade our existing facilities in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. These air quality standards are achievable with the appropriate investment. For example, nearly 60 percent of all coal-fired boilers that submitted data to EPA are currently achieving the Utility Toxics Rule's proposed mercury standards. Existing pollution control technologies have demonstrated their mettle, and they need to be further deployed throughout the nation.

Our experience shows that it is possible to clean the air, create jobs, and power the economy at the same time. For example, our New Jersey coal plants with their various pollution-control systems have been able to reduce, by over 90 percent, emissions of mercury, acid gases and soot. Installing the systems created approximately 1,600 construction jobs and enabled us to add dozens of full-time positions. We are proud of these results and proud to have facilities that are among the cleanest coal stations in America.

Reliability is a critical consideration at all times in the electric power industry. We believe our industry is capable of meeting these clean air rules while maintaining electric system reliability. The U.S. bulk power system, at an aggregate level, has adequate spare capacity to absorb potential retirements. Many of the uncontrolled units, which are most likely to retire, are smaller, inefficient units and companies are already making retirement decisions independent of the Utility Toxics Rule due to fundamental economics. Moreover, the electric industry has a proven track record of adding additional generating capacity and transmission solutions when and where needed and of coordinating effectively to address reliability concerns.

The Clean Air Act gives affected sources three years from the issuance of the final rules to comply with the regulations. Further, if there are isolated reliability issues in areas of heavy demand as a result of implementing the air regulations affecting the electric sector, existing risk management procedures under the Clean Air Act, the Federal Power Act, and other statutes already provide EPA, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the President with tools to address unforeseen impacts on electric system reliability on an individual basis.

Simply put, the time is overdue to implement the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Doing so will help provide much needed certainty to invest in capital-intensive projects such as power plants that operate for 40 years or longer. Having these regulations in place will make it clear what the energy industry needs to do. In contrast, any significant delay for these rules will only perpetuate uncertainty where clarity is needed. The time for action is now.

Ralph Izzo is Chairman, President and CEO of Public Service Enterprise Group

Leading by Example: GSA Electrifies the Fleet; Delivers First Electric Vehicle to Navy

Michael J. Robertson — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:30:31 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Michael J. Robertson, Chief of Staff of the U.S. General Services Administration.

In 2009, when President Obama issued his Executive Order 13514 challenging the Federal Government to lead by example by improving energy, environmental, and economic performance, GSA answered the call. As the federal government's fleet operator, we have leveraged our portfolio to drive cost-saving, fuel efficient initiatives across the federal government. Each year, we have procured thousands of fuel efficient vehicles to replace older, less efficient ones. We also continue to improve management of about two-thirds of the Federal fleet, while directly increasing the fuel efficiency of the vehicles we own and lease to federal agencies— about 210,000 vehicles in total.

In fiscal year 2010, GSA successfully doubled the federal hybrid fleet, without increasing the total number of vehicles overall, resulting in a fleet fuel efficiency improvement equivalent to reducing petroleum consumption by an estimated 7.7 million gallons of gasoline or 385,000 barrels of oil. To build on this, in May we launched our electric vehicle pilot to integrate these advanced vehicles and infrastructure into the federal government fleet for the first time. Last week, GSA delivered the pilot program's first plug-in electric vehicle to the Department of the Navy.

Navy receives the first Federal plug-in electric.

The Department of the Navy has been a leader in energy security and their Chevy Volt will be one of many vehicles incorporated into the electric vehicle fleet. As vehicles for GSA's electric vehicle pilot begin to roll off the assembly line, we will continue deliveries to the 20 Federal agencies across the country participating in our pilot. As we help agencies move toward the President's goals to reduce petroleum consumption and achieve 100% advanced fuel vehicle purchases by 2015, we are also supporting the President's plan to put one million advanced vehicles on the road by that same date. Annually, the plug-in electric vehicles in our pilot are expected to save nearly 29,000 gallons of gas, reduce GHG emissions by 257 metric tons, and save taxpayer dollars in avoided fuel costs.

In just over two years, we have procured vehicles that were on average nearly 25 percent more fuel-efficient than the vehicles they replaced. Currently, roughly 50 percent of GSA's 210,000 leased vehicles are alternative fuel vehicles. Our commitment doesn't stop here. The President also directed GSA to develop and distribute a Vehicle Allocation Methodology (VAM), a standard way to ensure that each vehicle in an agency's fleet is correctly sized and is appropriate for accomplishing the agency mission. The VAM will help agencies identify opportunities to incorporate alternative fuel vehicles and identify and eliminate unnecessary vehicles from their fleets.

GSA will continue to lead the Federal Government toward more sustainable fleet solutions that cut our petroleum use and save tax payer dollars for a cleaner, more secure energy future.

To learn more on GSA's fleet management initiatives, check out this year's annual GreenGov Symposium, to be held in Washington, D.C. this Monday, October 31st through November 2nd.

Michael J. Robertson is Chief of Staff of the U.S. General Services Administration

Coming Soon to a Delivery Route Near You: Cleaner Trucks

Drew McConville — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:15:44 +0000

Last week, I joined CEQ Deputy Director Gary Guzy as he kicked off an impressive convoy of electric, hybrid, and other advanced technology heavy-duty trucks in Baltimore. The Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF) 2011 conference and expo – a collaboration of the clean transportation organization CALSTART and the U.S. Army's National Automotive Center – brought together the top innovators of the trucking industry, from suppliers of advanced components and large truck manufacturers to fleet owners like Coca-Cola and UPS.

HTUF is a good example of the successful public-private partnerships that this Administration looks to foster. For the conference attendees, the "ride and drive" convoy was an opportunity to show off and try out fuel efficient and all-electric trucks of all shapes and sizes, many rolling through streets across the country today and others destined for tomorrow's delivery routes. For me, it was an exciting look at cutting-edge technologies and a reminder of the value of policies that foster this innovation.

CEQ Deputy Director Gary Guzy in the driver's seat of a hydraulic hybrid garbage truck.

From day one, the Administration has supported investments in breakthrough clean energy technologies that will reduce air pollution, address climate change, improve our nation's energy security, help our industry outcompete the rest of the world, and drive long-term economic growth. For example:

Thanks to investments in clean energy, the U.S. is on track to produce 40% of the world's batteries for advanced vehicles by 2015, a major leap from producing just 2% of the world's batteries prior to the Recovery Act.
A Presidential Memorandum issued this May directs agencies to implement government-wide fleet management practices that will ensure the Federal Government is leading by example, purchasing 100% alternative fuel vehicles by 2015 and reducing oil consumption by 30% by 2020.
Through public-private partnerships like the National Clean Fleets Partnership and EPA's SmartWay program, the Administration is helping large companies and the trucking industry reduce diesel and gasoline use in their fleets and incorporate electric vehicles, alternative fuels, and fuel-saving measures.
This summer, the Administration finalized first-ever fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for heavy duty trucks. This is on top of the President's announcement of a framework for proposed fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for cars and light trucks that would double the efficiency of our light duty vehicle fleet by 2025.

With investment in technology innovation and standards that level the playing field for cleaner technologies to compete, the streets of our cities and towns will begin to look more like last week's convoy in Baltimore. Among the trucks on parade were class 8 tractor trailer hybrids, a class 8 fuel cell truck, hydraulic hybrid garbage trucks (interesting side note: EPA played a lead role in developing this technology), all-electric delivery vans and buses, hybrid work trucks, and bucket trucks with electrified boom lifts that eliminate the need to leave engines idling.

Some of the hybrid, electric, and other advanced-technology trucks on display at the Hybrid Truck Users Forum 2011 "ride and drive" convoy. Photo courtesy of CALSTART.

Not only will weekly garbage pick-up bring less pollution to your neighborhood, but many of the cutting edge technology innovations will find their way into other applications – in our cars, small trucks, and even our military vehicles. If you wondered why the U.S. Army co-sponsored a hybrid truck event, it's because the technology being tested in delivery trucks today can help reduce fuel use on the battlefield tomorrow. Announcing the Department of Defense Operational Energy Strategy recently, the Deputy Secretary of Defense Bill Lynn, explained the impact of our military's fuel dependence:

[T]he costs of that energy use aren't just financial, they are strategic and tactical. All too often those costs can be measured in lives lost moving and guarding fuel on the battlefield. These risks and costs associated with our energy use mean that we must change the way we manage energy on the battlefield, and strive to reduce demand at all levels of our forces.

Finally, last week's technology showcase wasn't just a window into America's future; it was a glimpse of the future of transportation worldwide and the business opportunities for U.S. industry. Demand is growing across the globe for cleaner transportation options that use less fuel and create less pollution, and U.S. companies are positioning themselves to lead this market. At the conference last week, CALSTART kicked off a U.S.-China Clean Truck Technology Forum to help connect clean truck and bus technology firms with partners in China. This project is funded by a grant from the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, which looks for opportunities to translate American business leadership into trade opportunities abroad.

As the President said on his first Earth Day in office,

Now, the choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy. The choice we face is between prosperity and decline. We can remain the world's leading importer of oil, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy. We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc across the landscape, or we can create jobs working to prevent its worst effects. We can hand over the jobs of the 21st century to our competitors, or we can confront what countries in Europe and Asia have already recognized as both a challenge and an opportunity: The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy.

We can be that nation, and from the leadership and innovation on display last week, I'd say we are on the road to get there.

Drew McConville is Deputy Associate Director for Energy & Climate Change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

GreenGov 2011: Connecting you with sustainability leaders for a leaner, greener, and more efficient government

Michelle Moore, Federal Environmental Executive — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:58:15 +0000

For the second year, we're hosting the GreenGov Symposium to bring leaders in sustainability together under one roof. Beginning in 2009 when President Obama issued Executive Order 13514, he challenged the Federal Government— the biggest energy consumer in the US economy, to become leaner, greener, and more efficient.

Held in Washington, DC, the three day symposium is your chance to partake in over 70 educational sessions beginning at 8:30 AM on Monday, October 31. Register now to join in discussions with:

The next generation of Clean Energy and Green leaders, including award-winning journalist Simran Sethi, and renowned explorer, social entrepreneur, and environmental advocate Philippe Cousteau Jr., on how they want to see the Federal Government lead by example.
Drivers in corporate innovation, in a panel conversation on sustainability strategies, hosted by Mother Nature Network and moderator Dr. Heidi Cullen.
Federal leaders like those from the Department of Defense, and their work with the private sector to develop large-scale renewable energy projects. Come meet Dr. Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Installations and Environment.

And hear directly from these and other experts how:

The Federal Government is greening its half-trillion dollar supply chain. Listen to Steve Leeds, GSA's Senior Sustainability Officer, in a conversation with Cindy Drucker, Global Director of Sustainability for SC Johnson.
The Federal Government has collaborated to make major strides in greener operations and practices. Join me, along with Mother Nature Network; Brian Deese, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council; Jon Powers, Special Advisor on Energy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army; Michael Robertson, General Services Administration Chief of Staff; and Rachael Tronstein, Clean Energy Advisor at the Department of Energy as they discuss how they are collaborating across government toward greener Federal buildings, fleets, and programs.

You will also hear from:
Thomas Armstrong, Director of National Coordination, U.S. Global Change Research Program, White House Office of Science and Technology;
Tom Hicks, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, U.S. Navy;
Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, U.S. Department of Energy;
Jason Miller, Special Assistant to the President for Manufacturing Policy, Executive Office of the President of the United States;
Robert Peck, Commissioner, Public Buildings Sector, U.S. General Services Administration; and
Tim Unruh, Program Manager, Federal Energy Management Program, U.S. Department of Energy.

You won’t want to miss GreenGov 2011. Learn more, see the full agenda, and register at www.greengov2011.org.

Michelle Moore is Federal Environmental Executive at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Advancing Partnerships to Better Buildings

Krista Sprenger — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:55:01 +0000

Editor's Note: The blog introduces readers to Krista Sprenger, Vice President, Director of Sustainability for Lend Lease— an international property and infrastructure group that was one of the first partners in President Obama's Better Buildings Challenge.

"The time is not far off when companies will have to justify their worth to society…with greater emphasis being placed on environmental and social impact than straight economics." - Lend Lease Founder, Dick Dusseldorp

Our founder had a basic principle that our company was part of the community and that we had a responsibility to focus on the environmental and the social value we might add. We strive to apply global best-practices and innovative, responsible environmental design initiatives and are committed to promoting energy efficiency, utilizing alternative energy sources with an overall target of designing communities that are zero net water, waste and carbon neutral. This is why partnering with the Department of Energy and the White House for the Better Buildings Challenge just made sense.

To support the Better Buildings Challenge, Lend Lease has set a goal to reduce energy consumption by 20% within our Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI) portfolio over the next 3-5 years. Our participation in the Better Buildings Challenge will mean more than 65.3 million square feet of real estate will be greener and in turn we will help American military families bring energy security home and most importantly create new jobs in the construction industry.

Recently, representatives from all 10 Lend Lease projects met to validate their commitment to the program. An all-day meeting, focused on the goals and outcomes of the BBC, allowed all participants to understand the program and hear how their project can support. (BELOW) Participants from Lend Lease gather for a photo around the contract they all signed agreeing to do their part to help meet our goal.

To achieve our reduction goals, we are taking a three pronged approach as part of the Challenge. We will continue our green retrofit program, and have hired residential building science specialists, IBACOS, to help us assess our portfolio and ensure we are implementing innovative and customized whole building energy retrofit and management solutions which reduce consumption and offer more efficient homes. To reduce grid consumption we will be significantly broadening our solar portfolio as well as incorporate additional renewable power options such as wind and geothermal. Finally, we will begin an aggressive behavior management/energy consumption reduction program aimed at teaching the 140,000 people who live or work in one of our communities how they can best conserve energy within their home and take personal responsibility to support a sustainable environment.

The Better Buildings Challenge allows Lend Lease to partner with like-minded organizations, like the Department of Energy, to support an initiative we strongly believe in. We are honored to be one of only 14 companies chosen to participate in the initial launch of the program, and look forward to continuing our partnership for years to come.

Krista Sprenger is Vice President, Director of Sustainability for the Lend Lease Americas region

A Physician, Scientist and Mother Clears the Air

Kari C. Nadeau, MD, PhD — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:10:20 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, an Associate Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a pediatrician who specializes in asthma and allergy.

Recently, both the Clean Air Act and the EPA have been attacked by some who claim that the restrictions on air polluters are too intrusive, too expensive and too burdensome. They go on to question the validity of the EPA's studies. As a physician, scientist and mother of five young children, I believe that it is time to "clear the air".

In the United States and particularly in California, we are experiencing an epidemic in asthma and other pulmonary diseases that has reached unprecedented numbers. In the United States, asthma affects approximately 24 million people, of which an estimated 7 million are children. In the United States, asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood, is one of the most common causes of hospitalization for children, and its incidence has increased dramatically (http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=42). According to CDC data, in 1980, 3.6% of U.S. children had asthma. By 1995, that number more than doubled to 7.5% (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad381.pdf). Clearly, something needs to be done, and done quickly.

As a physician, I see and treat patients with allergies and asthma each day I am in clinic. As research scientists, my colleagues and I follow the evidence to find a possible cause. And increasingly, evidence is pointing to air pollution as the culprit.

Our research led us to investigate the effects of air pollution on children in Fresno. According to the American Lung Association's State of the Air 2011, of the top 10 most polluted cities, 6 of them are in California, and one of them is Fresno, the center of our study. Our results were published last fall in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: Ambient Air Pollution Impairs Regulatory T-Cell Function in Asthma(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20920773). Much like the scientific evidence finally proved the link between smoking and lung cancer, our study exposed the critical evidence linking air pollution directly to asthma. Our research showed that the effects of air pollution in Fresno are associated with genetic changes in the immune cells of children. In other words, inhaling polluted air could affect the immune system's ability to do its job. The increasing numbers and severity of asthma are directly related to these genetic changes. These genetic changes are permanent.

Yet, despite all the evidence implicating air pollution's deleterious impact on public health, some people continue to ignore or attack the evidence. Worse yet, some in Congress are trying to stop the Environmental Protection Agency for taking reasonable steps to clean up our polluted environment. What's so frustrating is we have the technology to clean up the dirtiest sources of air pollution, and still industry and their supporters in Congress refuse to clean up their act. We cannot afford to debate and wait a half century before we clear the air; we must act now. As parents, as citizens, and as a nation, we have a responsibility to provide for the common good and the common health. As long as we have the will to defend our right to clean air, we can ensure that our children's future will be a brighter and healthier one.

Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a pediatrician who specializes in asthma and allergy. She is a member of the American Thoracic Society Environmental Health Policy Committee and a volunteer physician with the American Lung Association in California.

Related Entries:
Improving the Health of our Children and Communities: the Clean Air Act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/10/04/improving-health-our-children-and-communities-clean-air-act

America's Great Outdoors: Results for American Communities

Jay Jensen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:30:02 +0000

Today, the Administration released a progress report on President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative (AGO) that shows on-the-ground results for American communities. Built through unprecedented public outreach, AGO represents the President's vision for a 21st century conservation agenda to protect, connect, and restore the parks, rivers, open spaces and working lands American's clearly love.

Here's what others have to say about how AGO is conserving and restoring critical outdoor spaces, and supporting thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity:

"The vision and potential of the America's Great Outdoors initiative is truly extraordinary and the progress made thus far is nothing short of remarkable. These accomplishments are a testament to the power of partnerships, the commitment of communities and the passion of youth. The young leaders of Outdoor Nation are grateful for the leadership of President Obama and his Administration and are actively implementing projects that will result in a lasting legacy of America's Great Outdoors."
Christine Fanning, Executive Director, The Outdoor Foundation

"American Rivers commends President Obama and his Administration for the significant progress made thus far in implementing the America's Great Outdoors initiative. Communities across the country took up the challenge to develop new homegrown conservation strategies for the 21st Century. Removing the Elwha River dams on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula; designating new water trails in Illinois, Indiana, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania; and laying the foundation for more water trails to be designated across the country are outstanding examples of how the America's Great Outdoors initiative is helping to protect and restore rivers and reconnect Americans to the natural world. Building on this early success, we look forward to working with the Administration in the coming year in support of the National Blueways Initiative to protect rivers and connect communities, from the Congaree River in South Carolina to the San Joaquin River in California."
Wm. Robert Irvin, President and CEO, American Rivers

"The Flint Hills and Dakota Grasslands are excellent examples of investing in the future of conservation. These precious gifts were given to us to steward, improve and pass along to generations yet unborn. Ducks Unlimited is pleased to partner with the Department of the Interior on these critically important issues and we look forward to doing our part to make the Dakota Grasslands a success."
Dale Hall, CEO, Ducks Unlimited

"The conservation economy—recreation, restoration, and renewable energy—provides tremendous economic benefits to communities surrounding public lands, which are often in the rural areas that need them the most. The administration’s first Progress Report on the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative highlights many examples of the places where conservation of public lands supports jobs while at the same time protecting valued resources like clean air and clean water. Policies that create jobs by protecting public lands should be a part of the discussion that lawmakers have in this time of fiscal uncertainty."
Christy Goldfuss, Director of the Public Lands Project, Center for American Progress

"From the Gettysburg battlefield to Montana's Rocky Mountain Front and sage grouse habitat on Western ranches, Americans cherish their history, wildlife, local communities and way of life. The Conservation Fund commends America's Great Outdoors and the Administration for its leadership to conserve our land and waters for the enjoyment of all Americans. Investments from the Land and Water Conservation Fund in our nation's great network of parks, historic sites, public lands and working forests, farms and ranches will yield long term dividends for our children and grandchildren."
Larry Selzer, President & CEO, The Conservation Fund

"The Trust for Public Land commends the Administration for its commitment to the important goal of connecting more people to outdoor recreation opportunities. This AGO progress report shows the depth and breadth of the administration's effort over the past year, and builds a strong foundation for maintaining the link between outdoor recreation, healthy communities and a strong economy. From our work across the country - in cities and rural working landscapes alike - The Trust for Public Land knows how much Americans value the great outdoors and are willing to invest in it for the future."
Kathy DeCoster, Vice President and Director of Federal Affairs, Trust for Public Land

"It is much easier to take care of something you actually know. This is why the AGO Initiative is so very important; by working to help all Americans experience and enjoy their outdoor spaces, from mountain ranges and wild rivers to farms and city parks, we are making a thoughtful and prudent investment in the future of conservation in this country."
Adam Cramer, Policy Architect, Outdoor Alliance

"As stewards of America's State Parks we are pleased President Obama has engaged the nation in a dialog to highlight the importance of funding our public lands at the local, state and national level for the health, inspiration and well being of all Americans. The accomplishments made during the first eight months of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative are a testament to the commitment by the president and the leaders of his administration to expand access to the outdoors by promoting recreation and investing in parks. America's State Parks strongly supports the AGO mission. We provide a significant economic impact estimated at $23 billion generated from 741 million visits in 2010 to the over 7,000 state park sites across America. The success of the America's Great Outdoors Initiative clearly benefits the health and happiness of all citizens. America's State Parks are pleased to join in supporting that achievement."
Ruth Coleman, President, National Association of State Park Directors

"At a time when our lands and waters face unprecedented attacks, America's Great Outdoors is a necessary reminder that Americans strongly support conservation. The report represents a continuation of the open conversation that the Obama administration has been having across the country for over a year. Like President Theodore Roosevelt's vision for conservation at the turn of the 20th century, America's Great Outdoors is a bipartisan conservation initiative for the 21st century. We look forward to working with the president and his administration on full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund as well as the exciting upcoming projects that include landscape-scale conservation in the Crown of the Continent region of the northern Rockies and the northern forests of New England and New York."
William H. Meadows, President, The Wilderness Society

"The release of the America's Great Outdoors Progress Report today marks a significant milestone, a time to reflect on “our glorious heritage” and consider our collective responsibility in assuring that our citizens, especially our children and youth, understand the value of the natural gifts they have been given and their role in assuring that the gifts are treasured and maintained for future generations. As noted in the report, Americans care about the legacy they have received and they want to pass along a clean and healthy environment to their children. On behalf of The Corps Network, representing Service and Conservation Corps across the nation and the 33,000 young people enrolled, I extend appreciation to all who have provided leadership to the America’s Great Outdoors effort, to those who gave input to the report and especially to those who have assumed responsibility for implementation. Progress during this first year is most impressive! The increased focus on youth and young adults is welcomed and appreciated! We will continue working in support of the America’s Great Outdoors initiative with a special focus on seeing the 21st Century Conservation Corps established. We gladly join forces with partners who see the value in reconnecting with the land. It would be easy in the midst of confusing times to lose sight of the importance of our lands, water and air – the very essence of our being. We cannot allow that to happen."
Sally T. Prouty, President and CEO, The Corps Network

"The America's Great Outdoors initiative puts an important focus on the value of conservation to the Western economy and our hunting and fishing traditions. The efforts of the President and Congress to preserve our heritage will also preserve American jobs and our clean water, wildlife, and wildlife habitat."
Gaspar Perricone, Co-Director, Bull Moose Sportsmen's Alliance

"Within their AGO Initiative, we applaud the Obama Administration for focusing its staff and funding on key restoration efforts in the Great Lakes, Jamaica Bay, greater Everglades ecosystem and Olympic National Park. This critical work will bring these areas back to life for visitors and native wildlife. In addition, we appreciate all of the work to get children and their parents outdoors and commemorating the Civil War by emphasizing the resulting Civil Rights movement and the need to protect more sacred ground of many battlefields."
Thomas C. Kiernan, President, National Parks Conservation Association

"The White House's commitment to America's Great Outdoors is critical to sustaining American jobs, as well as fish and wildlife, clean water and our nation's outdoor traditions. New research shows that the great outdoors and historic preservation generate more than $1 trillion in total economic activity and support 9.4 million jobs each year. America's Voice for Conservation, Recreation and Preservation, a coalition of more than 770 organizations, has united in support of conservation, recreation and preservation programs as a means to create jobs and improve the economy. Consequently, America's Great Outdoors represents a necessary investment in the hunting and fishing heritage and economic well-being that are crucial to millions of American citizens."
Vaughn Collins, Director of Government Affairs, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

"The accomplishments of America's Great Outdoors in such a short time demonstrate the promise of this approach to providing tangible and lasting benefits for the American people. This effort is protecting nature from the grass roots up by encouraging conservation at the community level. In turn, that will help ensure clean water supplies, support jobs in tourism and recreation, preserve working farms and ranches and protect wildlife for people and nature. In fact, a recent study found that the economic impacts of outdoor recreation, natural resource conservation and historic preservation activities in the United States contributed a minimum of $1.06 trillion dollars to the economy, created a $107 billion return on investment to federal, state and local governments through tax revenue and supported 9.4 million jobs. We commend the administration on the progress that has been made, and look forward to continuing this work together. An investment in the great outdoors is an investment in America – one which helps ensure the healthy land and water that are vital to our nation's strength."
Bob Bendick, Director of U.S. Government Relations, The Nature Conservancy

"This leadership from the Obama administration on America’s Great Outdoors is a good sign for our businesses that depend on a healthy Colorado River for our economic viability."
Molly Mugglestone, Coordinator of Protect the Flows, a coalition of 250 businesses that depend on the Colorado River

"The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is pleased that the first goal of the AGO is to engage young Americans in protecting our nation's lands through the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps. SCA and other youth corps are partnering with the federal agencies to engage diverse you and veterans in this initiative. Together we are protecting America's lands and developing tomorrow's conservation leaders."
Dale Penny, President and CEO, Student Conservation Association

"TU appreciates the hard work invested by our federal natural resource agency partners to advance the outstanding goals of the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. In a time of unprecedented budget cuts and reduced institutional capacity, the resource agencies have accomplished a strong record of success in the past year...Today's report is proof that that Nation is moving forward on a strong conservation agenda."
Steve Moyer, Vice President of Government Affairs, Trout Unlimited

"The recently released America's Great Outdoors Progress Report shows what the value of outdoor recreation is to this country. The protection of public lands and rivers is very important to our economy and the fly-fishing industry. For us it is simple: public lands are instrumental to the fly fishing industry and the opportunity to enjoy those venues leads to economic activity for our members and the industry we represent."
Randi Swisher, President, American Fly Fishing Trade Association

"The President's America's Great Outdoors initiative launched an important conversation about the value of our public lands for the outdoor recreation economy. With the release of this progress report, the president can now demonstrate his commitment to protecting the public lands and rivers near Denver and across the country. Designating new parks and monuments, funding critical conservation programs, and investing in our outdoors heritage protects wildlife habitat, creates recreational opportunity, and leads to economic activity and jobs."
Maxwell Key, Owner/Founder, Cheeky Fly Fishing

Jay Jensen is Associate Director for Land and Water Ecosystems at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Better Buildings: A Shared Mission

Rick Fedrizzi — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:40:47 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Things have changed in the building industry since 2008. Three years ago, the word "retrofit" was more likely to bring to mind Jack LaLanne than better homes and workplaces. Today, more and more people know that retrofits mean better buildings and better places to live and work. Soon, everyone will know.

What is causing this change? What is moving retrofits and better buildings from water cooler conversations amongst engineers to something worthy of nods of approval across the spectrum of Americans?

Certainly no single event, person, or organization has caused this groundswell of understanding, but examples of leadership abound. We've had President Clinton preach rolling up our sleeves and getting to work on retrofits. We've had the Empire State Building go green to save green and show everyone that it can be done anywhere, in any building. We've seen cities as different as New York City and Charlotte, N.C. take it upon themselves to go further in existing buildings in unique and creative ways. And most recently President Obama has demonstrated his commitment to the Green Building industry when he issued in October 2009 Executive Order 13514, which requires Federal agencies to move to green building practices. Since then we have seen agency after agency stand-up greener buildings. Also as part of the American Job Act, President Obama is making investments in Green schools by proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools.

Here at the U.S. Green Building Council, we've seen an explosion in the number of existing buildings attaining LEED. We certified almost 20 times more existing buildings in 2010 than we did in 2007.

But potentially most impactful in the building industry has been the attention from the White House and President Obama. If you had asked me or anyone else in 2007 how many times the next President and Vice President would say "retrofit" in front of the entire nation, even the most optimistic of us would not have come close. People have lots to say about what goes on in Washington, D.C., but in this case our leaders got it right.

One agency in particular has been tasked with focusing all that attention: the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). CEQ has the thankless but crucially important job of coordinating the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. No small task.

In homes, CEQ spearheaded the Recovery Through Retrofit initiative at the request of the Vice President's Middle Class Task Force, and is progressing in implementing the multi-pronged strategy to improve homes across the country. A home energy label, better trained workers, and access to financing are the deliverables in this ambitious plan.

In commercial buildings, CEQ is the lead on implementing the President's Better Buildings Initiative through a variety of programs at the Department of Energy and the Small Business Administration that look to cut energy bills by $40 billion (with a B) per year.

Nancy Sutley and her staff are doing yeoman's work behind the scenes to raise the profile of energy efficiency, retrofits, and green buildings broadly, and we are thrilled to award them our 2011 Leadership Award for Organizational Leadership in the Public Sector. While we know their efforts have had impact today in defining retrofits for the country, I'd venture to guess that we’ll value those impacts tenfold a decade from now.

CEQ and the White House have managed to make retrofits real in the minds of so many Americans, and for that they are worthy recipients of the 2011 Leadership Award, given today at this year's Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Toronto. But even beyond that, I'd like to personally thank them for so elegantly capturing the mission of the U.S. Green Building Council, our members and our community: Better Buildings. Enough said.

Rick Fedrizzi is President, CEO and Founding Chair of USGBC

Modernizing Our Electric Grid, Creating Jobs

Neal Kemkar — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:10:40 +0000

Today the Obama Administration announced it would accelerate the permitting and construction of seven proposed electric transmission lines. This move will speed the creation of thousands of construction and operations jobs while transforming the Nation's electric system into a modern, 21st century grid that is safer and more secure, and gives consumers more energy choices. This announcement follows in a long line of this Administration's initiatives that demonstrate the commitment to job creation and modernizing America's infrastructure. See what stakeholders are saying below:

Pam Eaton, Deputy Vice President for Public Lands, The Wilderness Society:
"Building responsibly-sited power lines to access world-class renewable resources can put thousands of Americans to work, bring cost-effective clean power to people who need it, and help some of the rural counties in the West hardest hit by the economic downturn. We are counting on the Administration to focus its laser-beam attention on those lines that will truly bring our best renewable energy resources online efficiently and effectively with special attention to safeguarding our unique Western landscapes and communities."

David G. DeCampli, president of PPL Electric Utilities, and Ralph LaRossa, president of PSE&G:
"We applaud the administration's efforts to ensure that high-priority electric infrastructure projects are built and placed in service in a timely way. The Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line will improve electric service reliability for millions of people. As an added benefit, its construction will create thousands of jobs."

Tom C. Wray, Project Manager, SunZia LLC:
"The SunZia Transmission Project welcomes the creation of the Administration's Rapid Response Team and its focus on federal agency process improvements for environmental reviews and permit issuances. The preparation of SunZia's Draft Environmental Impact Statement is in its 27th month and the prospect for interagency cooperation to obtain expeditious review is a very positive development. The RRTT's coordination and oversight is a needed and welcome evolution in what can become an otherwise an unnecessarily lengthy, difficult process."

Carl Zichella, Director of Western Transmission, NRDC:
"The Obama administration believes, and so does NRDC, that we can accelerate transmission approvals without cutting corners on environmental or cultural reviews. This pilot program demonstrates that enhanced coordination can play a critical role in accomplishing the President's clean energy goal and cut emissions in the West by 80% in 2050. We look forward to contributing, both through the interconnection planning efforts now underway and directly with the agencies implementing the program."

See CEQ's initiatives for more information on the Rapid Response Team for Transmission.

Neal Kemkar is Deputy Associate Director for Energy and Climate Change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Improving the Health of our Children and Communities: the Clean Air Act

Nancy Sutley — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:00:43 +0000

Adopted into law more than forty years ago, the Clean Air Act represents our fundamental commitment to the health and wellbeing of America's communities and children. Throughout its history, the Act has been supported and strengthened by leaders in both political parties. Today, however, some voices in Congress want to use the economic crisis as an excuse to weaken clean air protections for the first time in history. But as we have known for decades, we do not need to sacrifice the health of the American people to build a stronger economy. In fact, the health of our economy depends on the health of our communities.

By any measure, the Clean Air Act has been a successful investment. Last year alone, Clean Air Act regulations prevented approximately 160,000 premature deaths, 130,000 heart attacks, and 1.7 million asthma attacks, delivering roughly $30 in benefits for every dollar spent. These health gains have directly boosted our productivity. In 2010, Americans avoided an estimated 13 million lost work days and 3 million lost school days thanks to Clean Air Act standards. Finally, the Act has been a catalyst for innovation, making the U.S. a world leader in advanced pollution controls and clean technologies. U.S. exports from the environmental technology industry in 2008 were over $43 billion.

Today, even as Americans use more electricity and drive more miles, local air pollution has fallen thanks to the Clean Air Act. But many large sources of pollution remain unaddressed and our families bear the costs of this pollution every day. The Administration is taking a number of important steps to meet our national commitment to clean air and reduce the dangers associated with air pollution that continues to impact the health of our communities, particularly our most vulnerable populations, including children and seniors.

For example, these communities would benefit from new rules for power plants that will set first-ever national limits for mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals and slash emissions of soot and smog that pollute the air we breathe. While most of the country's power plants have already installed readily available pollution controls, others, including many plants older than the Clean Air Act itself, continue to operate without modern controls. These long-awaited public health standards will also finally provide a more level playing field for companies, enable investments that are currently on hold, and create jobs building, installing and operating pollution control equipment and new clean sources of electricity.

However, these vital public health standards, overdue by more than a decade and required by court orders, would be blocked and delayed indefinitely by a bill that recently passed the House of Representatives, the TRAIN Act. The costs of this bill would be massive. Each year of delay imposed by this bill would lead to tens of thousands of premature deaths, tens of thousands of heart attacks, thousands of hospital visits for respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and hundreds of thousands of childhood asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses that would otherwise be avoided by commonsense public health standards.

This is just the first in a line of bills attacking core public health protections of the Clean Air Act, as some politicians try to use the economic crisis to push an extreme agenda. It's time for leaders in Congress to stand-up for the health of our families and communities by rejecting measures that would dismantle the fundamental protections that are needed to keep our country healthy, strong, and prosperous for decades to come.

Nancy Sutley is Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

An Energy Efficiency Leader at the Department of the Navy

Kateri Callahan — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:55:51 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a DC-based nonprofit promoting energy efficiency.

Since assuming her post as the Navy's chief official on energy matters in March 2010, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment) Jackalyne Pfannenstiel has been managing over 75,000 buildings and facilities that support Navy and Marine operations around the world. Her sharp focus on energy efficiency has far-reaching impacts within and beyond the military, and it's why she has been selected as the 2011 recipient of the Alliance to Save Energy's Chairman's Award.

The Honorable Jackalyne Pfannenstiel,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
(Energy, Installations and Environment)

Pfannenstiel believes the Navy must be innovative in the way it uses energy in global missions. When President Obama issued his Executive Order 13514 in 2009 directing Federal agencies to lead in energy, environmental, and economic performance, he lead the way for exactly this type of innovation. At the Alliance, we encourage all government agencies to follow Pfannenstiel’s example by embracing energy efficiency initiatives to demonstrate the remarkable potential of energy efficiency in replicable, achievable ways.

Our Honorary Chair, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, selected Pfannenstiel for her career-long efforts to drive energy efficiency through her creativity, commitment and innovation. She has worked in both the public and private sectors to save energy for consumers, businesses and governments alike. In this position she now has the opportunity to have an even greater impact, saving the Federal Government and taxpayers money that can be used for other important needs while keeping our country safe.

As with its Great White Fleet of 1907, the U.S. Navy is again leading the way as a military power, this time with its "Great Green Fleet" that heavily emphasizes energy efficiency as a first step toward energy independence. With the "Great Green Fleet," the Navy has pledged to:

• Reduce petroleum use in its commercial vehicle fleet by 50% by 2015;
• Produce 50% of shore-based energy from alternatives sources by 2020; and
• Achieve net-zero energy use in 50% of Navy installations by 2020.

In addition, Pfannenstiel hopes military research and development will drive energy efficiency technology, in the same way that it embraced now-common public technologies like the Internet and GPS.

Assistant Secretary Pfannenstiel has amply demonstrated her commitment to energy efficiency, and we look forward to honoring her and other remarkable energy efficiency champions at our Awards dinner this evening.

Kateri Callahan is President of the Alliance to Save Energy

Sacred Power: Growing Jobs and Nurturing Communities

David Melton — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:25:17 +0000

Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to David Melton, Chief Executive Officer of Sacred Power Corporation.

Sacred Power Corporation (SPC) was established in 2001 as Native American owned and operated small business that provides renewable energy solutions to government, commercial and residential customers. "Using the strengths of the Father to Protect the Gifts of the Mother" is our guiding principle, and it has guided us to success.

SPC has always been at the forefront of renewable energy innovation, beginning with our installation of the first solar carport structure in the State of New Mexico. Nearly eleven years later, that same carport is generating clean energy for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM. With funding from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and the support of the Obama Administration, we have now put large-scale renewable energy installations in New Mexico Schools for the first time. This allowed SPC to hire people at a time when jobs are scarce. With hundreds of installations across the U.S, SPC now employs 59 people from all disciplines, including engineers, electricians, installers, and office and administrative staff. We're also working with teachers to help them educate and inspire students about the great potential of green technology and green jobs in our communities. And we're working with Tribal Nations on the construction of energy efficient and solar powered Housing and Urban Development homes for lower-income Americans, who spend much of their earnings on their energy bills.

Sacred Power's portable solar array/wind turbine combination is transported to nearby schools for clean and efficient energy use.

SPC's patented stand-alone solar generators provide cost effective rural electrification for Native American homes. This power provides refrigeration for fresh foods, milk, and medicines, and for basic home needs. Unfortunately, there are over 10,000 of these “off-grid” homes scattered across Native Lands in the desert southwest without power, fuel or running water. SPC systems have already helped hundreds of senior citizens, single parent and low income families.

We are proud to have over ten Tribal Nations represented among our employees. And we are proud that our remote power systems, energy efficient telecommunication shelters, and grid tie photovoltaic power generators have served public sector customers of Tribal Nations, the U.S. Military, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service, and NASA, to name a few.

CEQ Chair Sutley tours Sacred Power Corporation.

At SPC, we know firsthand the potential of renewable energy and green technology to provide good jobs. We hope to take advantage of this potential to continue to grow and sustain our community for years to come.

David Melton is Chief Executive Officer of Sacred Power Corporation

In Service and Commemoration

Shira Miller and Danny Lampton — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:00:12 +0000

This past weekend, our Nation commemorated the 10th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th. We remembered those we lost and stood with their families and loved ones.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, many Americans were compelled to serve their fellow citizens and communities. As a tribute to that spirit of unity – and to honor those we lost – September 11 has been designated a National Day of Service and Remembrance. On Sunday, we were honored to join CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley for a Day of Service and Remembrance organized by the Volunteer Center for Anne Arundel County in Annapolis, Maryland.

Chair Nancy Sutley delivers remarks at the opening ceremony of Project Green: 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance. (Photo Credit: Mary McGuirt with the Historic Annapolis Patch)

The day began with a ceremony at the Maryland World War II Memorial to commemorate those who have lost their lives in service. We then joined volunteers, including members of the US Naval Academy Midshipmen Action Group, at Jonas Green Park for clean-up activities including debris collection, weeding, planting native species and controlling storm water runoff to better protect the health of the community and the Chesapeake Bay. Our efforts were focused in the rain garden, where weeding and planting were essential to absorb rain water and improve water quality in the surrounding Bay.

CEQ's Danny Lampton and a local volunteer work in the rain garden just steps away from the Severn River in Annapolis, Maryland.

The effort was part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest volunteer effort for ocean health. As we got our hands dirty in Jonas Green Park, we were joining nearly half a million others around the world in protecting the coast lines and waterways that are vital to the health of our communities.

The day was a humbling and empowering reminder of what can be accomplished when we draw on our national spirit of unity and service.

Shira Miller and Danny Lampton both work at the Council on Environmental Quality