Congress gets a sustainability complex

Shooting for a green capitol

Posted by Kif Scheuer (Guest Contributor) at 4:21 PM on 25 Apr 2007

Read more about: politics | Congress | greening biz operations | greenwashing

No, it's not a new psychological disorder, but a plan for greening the capitol complex.

Over at Building Design and Construction they've got a piece on the acceptance of a "green the capitol initiative."

On April 19, Nancy Pelosi accepted a preliminary proposal and ...

... announced that operations of the Capitol Complex, which includes congressional office buildings and the 775,000-sf U.S. Capitol Building, would become carbon neutral no later than the end of the 110th Congress (in late 2008 or early 2009). [emphasis mine]

The report suggests six key strategies:

Operate in a carbon-neutral manner.
Shift to 100% renewable electric power.
Aggressively improve energy efficiency.
Adopt sustainable business practices.
Continue leadership on sustainability issues.
Purchase offsets to ensure carbon neutral operations.

All good stuff, and if undertaken would make the congressional workplace a banner for climate action. Although let's not forget what happened to Carter's solar panels when Reagan took office.

I'm loving the idea that some of the real dead enders may be dragged into a climate neutral showpiece. Inhofe has got to be fuming and stocking up on incandescent light bulbs this very minute.

You can look at the PDF report here.

For story: Congress gets a sustainability complex
2 Comments | Post a Comment

Paint the House a Brighter Shade of Green

This is a great initiative and one to be celebrated. While we should applaud, we should also be looking to see whether there is opportunity to strengthen the preliminary work and make something even better / stronger. Nancy: Paint the House a Brighter Shade of Green was my quite shot at looking at it in this vein.

For example, not much there re water use efficiency (flushless urinals), rainwater capture, white roofing, transportation issues (how to reduce (further) number of Hill staffers driving to work, reduce Capitol Police transportation GHG), etc.

This is a great move -- in real terms (especially for people who live in the DC area), symbolism, and leadership.

But the great move could be fantastic ...

Blogging regularly at Energy Smart to Energize America .

by A Siegel at 8:04 AM on 26 Apr 2007

Keep Working Slaves

Crack! Crack! Row! Row Faster!

Reduce "your" energy consumption so that there's more energy for the Top 3% to waste.

And they will waste it on estates and in remote parts of China that you never hear about.

Think you know who the 3% are by reading Fortune?

Think again...there are paladins and warloads in mainland China will fortresses miles wide who bring the village girls in as slaves at a dollar a head.

You haven't even begun to perceive the depth of the scam and how a very few are reaping the lion's share.

Texeme.Construct(function(x)=Participation(x))

by jabailo at 8:24 AM on 26 Apr 2007

ADVERTISING POLICY

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.