GSA acting administrator Paul Prouty gave the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee more detail about how the agency plans to spend Recovery Act funds.
Prouty said the money would help reduce GSA’s energy consumption, improve environmental performance, and by investing in existing infrastructure, help reduce its backlog of repair and alteration needs.
The money will also lessen the reliance on costly operating leases by providing more government-owned solutions for long-term requirements while stimulating job growth in the construction and real estate sectors and long-term improvements in energy efficient technologies, alternative energy solutions, and green building technologies, Prouty said.
"Greening our buildings will be an ongoing process," Prouty told the committee. He noted that the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires GSA to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent by 2015, and phase out all fossil fuel-generated energy in federal buildings by 2030.
On March 31st, GSA gave to Congress a list of 254 projects to be completed with funds provided by the Recovery Act. Those include construction projects, full and partial building modernizations, and limited-scope, high-performance green building projects.
Prouty said GSA would invest $3.2 billion in 43 building modernization projects, for example.
That includes the Edith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland, Oregon. According to Prouty, that project entails installing a double glass enclosure over the entire building to enhance energy performance and blast resistance, while vegetation will be used to shade the West façade from the sun.
