The Greening of Government: Getting To Net-Zero
Summer 2010 • Volume 2 • Number 3

Challenge Yourself
By Jeff Erlichman, Editor, On The FrontLines

Don’t sit on the sidelines. Participate and challenge yourself and your organization to be more energy efficient. That's what GSA Administrator Martha Johnson is aiming for with her net-zero footprint goal for GSA.

Our challenge is getting to a net-zero environmental footprint.

Leaders such as GSA Administrator Martha Johnson are poised to assist government agencies reach—and go beyond— their individual environmental goals spelled out in

Executive Order 13514.

“We are pushing towards a zero environmental footprint goal,” Johnson said at May 4, 2010 press briefing at GSA Expo. “I think GSA is position for it and poised and ready and eager and excited to play a more aggressive role in this.”

“Zero footprint is our moon shot. Zero footprint will demand that we work harder than we have ever worked before,” declared Johnson.

“We will have to find innovative ideas like never before, and take risks that are absolutely not within our current comfort range. A zero environmental footprint goal will galvanize the

workforce and our partners and attract the best of the next generation’s smart, idealistic and determined talent,” Johnson exclaimed.

“A zero footprint goal will pull change through our systems, ratchet our priorities away from the vetting process and towards solving society’s real needs. A zero footprint goal will electrify our confidence in our future.”

Take The Government Energy Challenge

Johnson also said that getting to net-zero is going to mean changing behavior. So, doing little things every day — like turning off your computer and lights when you leave — not only translate into huge energy savings, but they move us closer to the net-zero goal.

How much can be saved is not totally in your power, but you can be an active part of the solution by taking part in efforts such as the recent Government Energy Challenge sponsored by VMware, held in conjunction with Earth Day 2010.

“We want to celebrate those who do those little things—such as shutting off your desktop at night—and if we got thousands to do this, it certainly would make a big difference,” Aileen Black, VMware Federal VP told On The FrontLines in a recent interview.

Participants in the challenge pledged to turn off nonessential energy consuming desktop items not being using them, for the 30 days leading up to Earth Day on April 22. How

much they saved could be measured using a calculator based on established rates found on the EPA website (www.epa.gov).

The Challenge was a success and will be repeated next year according to Black, who forecast even more savings once Data Center and desktop virtualization fully take hold.

“From a green IT perspective, virtualization has allowed customers consolidate servers and collapse Data Center environments,” Black explained.

“We see server collapse rates from 12:1 up to 30:1 and some see 80% percent reduction of energy costs. Taking servers off the floor that are drawing power or giving off heat that needs more coolant makes it pretty easy to make a decision based on those benefits.”

“That is why you are seeing virtualization at the tip of every IT executive’s tongue in the federal government,” said Black. n

Join The GreenGov Collaborative

The 2009 GreenGov Challenge generated more than 5,000 ideas and 165,000 votes from 14,000 federal employees. The top ideas for The Greening of Government are summarized in the GreenGov Final Report.

To keep the ideas coming, federal staffers can take part in The GreenGov Collaborative, an online discussion group for feds hosted at www.FedCenter.gov.

It is your opportunity to work with colleagues across the government to put ideas into action. This private community offers various discussion forums for you to share your best ideas and strategies, ask questions, and recruit allies in your efforts to create a more sustainable Federal Government according to the FedCenter website.

FedCenter.gov is the federal home for comprehensive environmental stewardship and compliance assistance information. Click here for more information on FedCenter

membership.

Visit the GreenGov Collaborative enrollment page at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/02/17/greengovchallenge-turning-ideas-action   

### 

Challenge Yourself

Don’t sit on the sidelines, participate and challenge yourself and your organization to be more energy efficient. That's what GSA Administrator Martha Johnson is doing when with the goal of a net-zero environmental footprint for GSA, which she calls "GSA's moonshot".  

Diagnosis Green

DOE's Paul Scheihing and Will Linter provide agencies with Data Center assessment tools and help guide them to use funding more effectively in meeting their energy management objectives. 

Green Chronicles

Helping chronicle energy efficiency and renewable energy is longtime EERE Network News editor Kevin Eber. Read what Eber says is trending Green in the near future. 

The Lean Green Data Center Machine

Chuck Powers, IT Operations Director at NREL RSF shows how the new Data Center is consuming and providing energy as a part of the lab’s new net-zero sustainable green building. 

Green Proving Ground—Interview with GSA’s Kevin Kampschroer

In an On The FrontLines interview, the High Performance Buildings director describes why the renovation of the GSA HQ in DC will be a test bed for net-zero design and workplace flexibility. 

Published In Partnership With