While the challenges of passing comprehensive energy and climate change legislation gets most of the attention and generates even more of the national agita, the simple and effective practice of leading by example gets far too little. Case in point – President Obama’s Executive Order of October 5, 2009 directing the government to create an integrated sustainability strategy and make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The document itself – especially the policy and goals sections (pp. 1-5) – provides an effective blueprint for any large organization, governmental or private. Here’s what it says:
The Goal: a clean energy economy which will:
- increase our Nation’s prosperity
- promote energy security
- protect the interests of taxpayers
- safeguard the health of our environment
The Means: the Federal Government, the largest user of resources, must lead by example.
The Policy:
- increase energy efficiency
- measure, report, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- conserve and protect water resources through efficiency, reuse, and storm water management
- eliminate waste, recycle, and prevent pollution
- use the government’s buying power to foster markets for sustainable technologies and materials
- design, construct, maintain, and operate high performance sustainable buildings in sustainable locations
- engage employees in achieving these goals
The Goals Section lays out these areas of focus and includes some specific targets:
- reduce energy intensity in federal buildings
- use more renewable power
- reduce fossil fuel use
- work differently – supply chain, vendors, travel
- water use – reducing facility use of potable water, reducing agricultural and landscaping use and promoting stormwater conservation
- specific recommendations on waste and toxics use reduction
- regional and integrated planning
- sustainable building siting, design, construction and use
- sustainable acquisition and procurement (an opportunity, through vendors, to promote wider systemic change)
- electronics stewardship
The Executive Order is always Part I of the story. Part II usually arrives 90 to 120 days later and contains the response to the order from the agencies detailing what they’ll actually do. It’s where the rubber meets the road, where targets are actually set. That happened on January 29th, when the President announced:
- the largest energy consumer in the US economy (the Federal Government) will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 28% by 2020
- reducing energy use by 646 trillion BTUs by 2020
- saving between $8 billon and $11 billion by 2020
That will be change everyone can believe in.
Additional information: the White House Press Release of January 29, 2010