February 6, 2006

 

The EPA and 16 federal agencies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in support of high performance and sustainable buildings on Jan. 24, 2006. The document formalizes a commitment to guiding principles for energy performance, water conservation, integrated design and sustainable materials to help foster safe and healthy environments while promoting environmental stewardship.

Over the next few months, the Office of Water will be working with the EPA’s green buildings workgroup and other federal agencies to develop technical guidance to help agencies apply the principles of the MOU to their own facilities. Ultimately, the guidance will be incorporated into the Whole Building Design Guideline, a public-private collaborative resource for building professionals.

The MOU signatories represent about 90% of all federal building space. The Federal government owns approximately 445,000 buildings with total floor space of over 3 billion sq ft, in addition to leasing an additional 57,000 buildings comprising 374 million sq ft of floor space.