The Defense Department and the Environmental Protection Agency are partnering to develop technologies that would create sustainable U.S. military bases, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. Dorothy Robyn, deputy defense undersecretary for installations and environment, and Paul Anastas, EPA assistant administrator, signed the memorandum of understanding to establish the partnership. Scientists and engineers from both the Pentagon [...]
The Agriculture Department has added a new website focusing on renewable energy production, research and sustainably. USDA said the new site summarizes how the department manages and develops renewable energy sources and includes several industry-specific tools. An interactive map shows where the USDA provides investment support for renewable energy initiatives. A renewable energy tool provides [...]
The White House is giving agencies until March of next year to submit plans to improve cross utilization of information technology services. In a 16 -age draft released Friday, the White House set forth a rough outline for its “Shared First” strategy, which is part of the Federal Information Technology Shared Services Strategy. Under the [...]
With three years left to cut energy use by one-third, budgetary threats and rising cost, the measure to save seems to be in rescuing money spent to light, heat and cool government buildings. According to a report from Federal Times, green may be the way to go since fuel costs are causing spending to go up [...]
The Departments of Agriculture, Energy and the Navy have entered a three-year partnership with the private sector to spur production of biofuels, President Barack Obama announced Tuesday. The departments will invest up to $510 million to help produce drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power both military and commercial transportation. The biofuels can be used [...]
Energy companies should reveal the chemicals used in a drilling technique, known as fracking, that taps previously inaccessible natural gas deposits, an Energy Department advisory panel said. The Natural Gas Subcommittee, an advisory board to Secretary Steven Chu, released its 90-day draft report Thursday on shale gas production. The panel found hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, [...]
Most federal agencies have not created targets or baselines to measure green IT initiatives, a July 28 Government Accountability Office report says. GreenBiz.com reports the federal government will spend $79 billion this year on IT, including the purchase of roughly 1 million environmentally friendly computers and monitors. The green IT footprint is being implemented under [...]
The General Services Administration has invested $28 million into a solar roof for a federal building in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Star reports. The Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center now has the largest array of solar panels producing electricity in the Midwest, with 6,152 SunPower solar panels on the roof producing 2 megawatts of [...]
Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III unveiled the Defense Department’s new energy strategy at a Pentagon briefing yesterday, describing the plan as a way to increase energy efficiency and adapt the forces to “emerging threats.” “Our use of energy cuts across each of these issues,” he said, according to a American Forces Press Service [...]
Some of the administration’s biggest energy and technology players are set to announce the launch of a number of new initiatives aimed at modernizing the power grid at a White House event this morning. “Building the 21st Century Electric Grid” details the administration’s progress on so-called “smart” grid efforts — aimed at deploying IT solutions [...]