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EPA Leads the Way to Sustainability

Karen Murray, Sustainable Facilities and Practices Branch, EPA

This series of posters describes how EPA is leading the way to sustainability through its efforts to improve the energy and water efficiency and performance of its own facilities, purchase green power and develop renewable energy sources, and to quantify and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

• EPA's GHG Inventory and Reduction Efforts—EPA has developed an inventory of its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is taking steps to reduce them, achieving a 62 percent reduction from FY 2008 to FY 2009. The Agency has also developed an inventory of Scope 3 GHG emissions, including both categories of Scope 3 GHG emissions required by Executive Order (EO) 13514 and certain additional, optional categories. EPA is undertaking actions to reduce certain categories of Scope 3 GHG emissions as required by EO 13514 by 8 percent by FY 2020, compared to an FY 2008 baseline.
• Green Power at EPA—Purchasing green power and renewable energy helps EPA avoid environmental impacts, such as emissions of greenhouse gases, that are associated with traditional power generation. To promote energy efficiency and renewable energy, EPA facilities use technologies such as solar power and ground source heat pumps to supplement or replace a portion of their energy requirements.
• High-Performance Sustainable Buildings—EPA has installed green roofs, pursued U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED^®) certification for new construction and existing buildings, and improved water and energy performance as part of its efforts to make its buildings more sustainable.
• Low Impact Development Stormwater Management at EPA—Low impact development techniques, including porous pavement/permeable pavers, rain gardens/bioretention areas, rain barrels/cisterns, and the elimination of curbs and gutters, enable EPA to manage stormwater runoff as close to its source as possible and treat stormwater as a resource rather than a waste product.
• Water Conservation—EPA continues to exceed federal water use reduction requirements through a variety of water conservation activities, including single-pass cooling elimination, irrigation elimination and optimization, water reuse projects, faucet and fixture retrofits, and air handler condensate recovery.