House Announces Next Steps to Green the Capitol
March 2nd, 2009 by Office of the SpeakerToday, Speaker Pelosi released the Green the Capitol Year End Report, which details the successes achieved in the first 18 months of the program. Building on the House’s established leadership position in carbon and energy-use reductions, the report calls for all of the House’s business practices to meet self-imposed sustainability standards including becoming both cost and energy efficient over the next two years and making waste and carbon reduction efforts affect all day-to-day operations.
The report details how the House eliminated 91,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions:
Since 2007 we have reduced the House of Representatives’ carbon footprint by 74 percent through conservation projects and the purchase of renewable energy
All of the electricity used by the House comes from wind power projects
The Green the Capitol Program has made the House of Representatives a leader in the Federal Government in implementing sustainable, energy saving changes and reducing our carbon footprint.
We banned plastic and stryrofoam from the food service
Over 800 tons of waste from House cafeterias that once went to the landfill is now converted into compost that can be used in landscaping and stream restoration
Our Capitol Power Plant, which used to exclusively burn coal, now mixes in cleaner burning natural gas—enough to cover the House’s percentage already. Speaker Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid are now urging a switch to 100 percent natural gas, which will eliminate more than 95 percent of sulfur oxide emissions and cut carbon monoxide emissions in half.
From changing light bulbs … to switching to paperless records … to simply sealing leaks in an historic building—we have been overhauling everything we do, and learning valuable lessons we are sharing on how to go green on a large-scale.
In the next phase of Green the Capitol, as we keep pushing the envelope for more efficiencies, we will also be educating 435 member offices – both here and back in their home districts – on changes they can make—and share with their local communities.
Read the full report (.pdf) and read more ‘Green Progress by the Numbers’: