Greening the Government

This past October 2009, President Obama signed an executive order that requires government agencies to reduce waste by 50% by 2015, improve water efficiency by 26% by 2020, to operate government vehicles with 30% less petroleum by 2020, and to have the buildings be LEED certified.

President Obama is being a role model in his push for green. The Christmas tree in the White House has LED lights strung on it. The White House has low-flow toilets and automatic lights. It also has efficient heating and cooling systems.

While Obama is not the first President to push for eco-friendliness or “going green”, environmental groups, such as greenbiz.com, say that his efforts go beyond what many have done before him.

Erich Pica, of Friends of the Earth, told USAtoday.com, “There are many economies of scale that President Obama can achieve by forcing the federal government to rethink its energy habits.”

The federal government is the country’s largest energy consumer. Furthermore, these requirements back in October for government agencies mean big savings and big reductions in the amount of energy consumption as a whole.

In the same report by USAtoday.com, Nancy Sutley, who is chairwoman of Obama’s White House Council on Environmental Quality said, “This is a big leap forward for the federal government. And the effort will be sustainable itself beyond this president.”