Government

GREENandSAVE News — In June, a large-scale seminar was held at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government where top officials from 17 U.S. cities received training from experts on retrofitting cities’ buildings to be more energy efficient and how to create green jobs. Living Cities, a philanthropic organization comprised of 21 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions, sponsored the event as part of an initiative to address the significant energy consumption and pollution created by buildings.

GREENandSAVE News — The federal government, America’s largest energy consumer, has been allocated $20 billion by the Department of Energy (DOE) to make federal buildings more energy efficient.

The initiative supports the goal for the federal government to lead by example in undertaking green overhauls to ensure energy efficiency. The DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program will provide technical expertise for renewable energy, smart grids, green roofs and energy and water retrofits.

GREENandSAVE News — Last Thursday, July 16, 2009, the U.S. Senate held a meeting to discuss the benefits of green buildings, jobs, and legislation. The hearing entitled “Green Buildings Offer Multiple Benefits: Cost Savings, Clean Environment, and Jobs” was conducted by the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, which analyzed the General Service Administration’s (GSA) progress and future activity in boosting the U.S. green economy.

GREENandSAVE News — The U.S. Navy just gave an extra boost to a lighting retrofit underway for navy ships to replace existing inefficient lighting with energy-efficient light emitting diode (LED) lights. The LED lighting retrofit project will use solid state lighting fixtures supplied by Energy Focus Inc. that use less energy and have a much longer life over the existing incandescent and fluorescent fixtures throughout the entire Navy fleet.