My colleague Steve McBrady and I recently presented “Green Building in the 21st Century” at the national conference of the Construction Users Roundtable. Our slideshow is available below. Our primary message was that the federal government’s investment of $25 billion in green building projects, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will prop up the green building industry for the next few years.  Other presentations by government officials regarding federal construction projects further highlighted this message.

For example, during the first day, Vice Admiral Michael K. Loose, U.S. Navy, presented “How CURT and the Industry Help the U.S. Navy Deliver Fleet Readiness.” Throughout his presentation, the Vice Admiral emphasized that the Navy is focused on reducing its energy consumption through sustainability measures. The Navy intends to reduce its energy usage by using renewable energy sources, requiring LEED Silver certification for new construction and focusing on contractors’ life cycle costs and energy footprints, as required by a recent Department of Navy proclamation included in Vice Admiral Loose’s presentation:

“Effective immediately, the Navy and Marine Corps will incorporate life cycle costs as an evaluation factor when awarding contracts. The Department will develop a methodology to evaluate energy efficiency and energy footprint.”

The evaluation of “life cycle costs” and “energy footprints” was a recurring theme throughout the conference and, to me, is a new development in government contracting.

How is your company going to measure its “life cycle costs” and “energy footprint"?  How will the government evaluate those factors?

Green Building In The 21st Century

http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=greenbuildinginthe21stcentury-091120134014-phpapp02&stripped_title=green-building-in-the-21st-century
View more presentations from Chris Cheatham.