A new part of the General Services Administration will help federal government offices incorporate green technology into their day-to-day operations, influencing purchasing decisions and moving toward President Barack Obama's stated goals of reduced carbon footprints for government operations.
According to Federal News Radio, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson told reporters at the Expo Conference in Orlando, Florida that "we are positioned in particularly an important place to be experts, resources, facilitators and enablers for that sustainability agenda. I think of us as in a fulcrum role. Where else do you find the kind of leveraging that we at GSA can do?"
The Federal Times reports that the new office has begun work on a "carbon footprint" tool, intended to help government offices quantify the impact of their activities and encourage the use of more energy-efficient versions of common office technology, from lightbulbs and computers to business projectors.
President Obama has said that he will require the federal bureaucracy to meet wide-ranging new standards for energy efficiency on his watch, which could require wholesale changes in the way federal government offices operate, experts speculate.
