Executive Order Will Require More Federal Green Building
President Barack Obama recently signed Executive Order 13514, which sets numerous green requirements for the federal government. The EO will certainly impact the green building industry. According to the White House's Press Release, the Executive Order requires agencies to meet a number of energy, water and waste reduction goals:- 26% improvement in water efficiency by 2020;
- 50% of construction, recycling and waste materials will be diverted from landfills by 2015;
- 95% of all applicable contracts will meet sustainability requirements;
- Implementation of the 2030 net-zero-energy building requirement;
- Implementation of the stormwater provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, section 438; and
- Development of guidance for sustainable Federal building locations in alignment with the Livability Principles put forward by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Agencies will be required to go through the rulemaking process to implement EO 13514. There are a number of steps to the rulemaking process:
- agencies must inform the public of proposed rules before they take effect;
- the public can comment on the proposed rules and provide additional data to the agency;
- the public can access the rulemaking record and analyze the data and analysis behind a proposed rule;
- the agency analyzes and responds to the public's comments;
- the agency creates a permanent record of its analysis and the process;
It will be very interesting to see the initial rules proposed by the various agencies and how various players weigh in during this green building rulemaking process.
How do you think interested parties are going to react?
Related Links:
- President Obama Signs Executive Order (White House Briefing Room)
- H.R. 6: Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (GovTrack)
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This will be an interesting ride. Initially, I believe that any cost increase in today's economy will cause some serious backlash. I am also interested to see what agency regs come out of it and if anyone challenges the EO authority of a president that panned similar use of the EO (though in other areas) by his predecessor.
I think it is important to note that this EO establishes/allows the creation of regulations for the internal operations of government agencies; it does not allow agencies to create regulations governing private sector.
I think there's a chance it could get misinterpreted as an expansion of government's regulatory powers, but
it's really just an extension of what various agencies already do for their internal operations, like GSA's internal requirement that their buildings meet the standard of LEED silver.
@Christopher - Care to expand on the EO challenges you mentioned? I would like to hear more about this.
@Jason - Thanks for the clarification. The EO only applies to federal agencies and construction/renovations undertaken by these agencies.