The "Green Team"
Promoting Green Construction & Operations

The environmental impacts of major development projects – office buildings, shopping malls, sports stadiums, college campuses, and the like -- don’t end with construction. From design and construction to operation and maintenance and all the way through to demolition, man-made structures can use tremendous amounts of energy and natural resources, while generating large quantities of waste. Buildings, through the sheer amount of power they use, are responsible for some 40 percent of the nation’s energy consumption and 40 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions. For these reasons, EPA Region 2 works in partnership with public, private and government organizations to reduce the environmental impacts of their projects, which in turn, can reduce construction, operation and maintenance costs.

The EPA Region 2 Green Team helps building developers and facility managers incorporate more sustainable construction, operation and maintenance practices through voluntary agreements called memorandums of understanding (MOU’s).

The Green MOUs are tailored to each project and incorporate technologies and practices that can help project sponsors to:

Improve energy and water efficiency
Utilize renewable energy
Reduce waste generation and increase recycling, including food waste composting
Increase reuse and recycling of construction and other materials
Use environmentally–friendly building materials, maintenance products and landscaping
Incorporate Green Infrastructure techniques to reduce stormwater runoff
Save Money

As of March 31, 2012, 21 Green MOU Partners joined EPA in “Going Green” in a real and measurable manner. Five sectors are represented: retail, professional sports teams, higher education, real estate/property management and health care/hospitals. So far, our partners include (follow the links to read the associated press releases):

A few of the many achievements of the Green MOU program are:

Over 6,800 buildings are being constructed/operated in a green and sustainable manner.
The program has measured greenhouse gas reductions that add up to a huge environmental impact of 950,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MTCO2e).
This amount of carbon footprint reduction equates to the carbon dioxide emissions from burning nearly 5,163 railcars worth of coal or a coal train stretching approximately 78 miles long.
Our Green MOU partners have also proven that "Going Green saves Green" by reducing costs by over $62 million dollars.
EPA has provided individualized Environmental Assessment Reports that quantify the environmental benefits and the climate profile of each partner.
EPA calculates GHG and Carbon Footprint Reductions and translates these into Real-Life Equivalents (i.e. 1,000 barrels of oil conserved).
The Green MOU provides a complete compendium of an organization's Green and Sustainable Activities and Accomplishments

The Green MOU and EPA Environmental Assessment are valuable tools for communicating environmental benefits to management, employees, customers, the public and other stakeholders.

If you represent a large corporation, higher education institution, health care facility, or the like, operating in the Region 2 area (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands) and are interested in becoming a Green MOU partner, please contact Andrew Bellina, PE, at 212-637-4126 or GreenTeam.Region2@epa.gov.

The "Green Team" Promoting Green Construction & Operations

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The "Green Team"
Promoting Green Construction & Operations