NASA, the General Services Administration take the lead

Sep 25, 2012 12:52 GMT  ·  By

According to a report recently made public by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, several federal agencies have made significant progress in using information and communications technologies in order to green up their working agenda.

Thus, they succeeded both in cutting energy consumption and in keeping a close eye on their overall ecological footprint, simply by providing their headquarters with systems intended to monitor and help better manage energy and other resources consumption.

From where we stand, the US General Services Administration has come up with one of the most innovative ideas in terms of pushing for sustainability.

Thus, this agency has developed a so-called Prototype Alternative Workspace, which basically allows employees to move through the building as their work requires, and not simply remain stuck in an office all day long.

Apparently, this helps accommodate more people within the same working space, and therefore cuts energy consumption by about 45%.

One other such environmentally friendly agency that people know about at least from hear-say is NASA, whose Sustainability Base office in Northern California is capable of generating significantly more energy that the building requires in order to keep up and running.

Environmental Leader Informs us that this is because heating and cooling the offices is done by means of a geothermal system, and photovoltaic installations make sure that people working here have their electricity demands met.

Moreover, the building recycles whatever gray water is produced within its perimeter, meaning that overall consumption levels for this resource have been reduced by as much as 90%.

As the people who came up with this report explain, it is the federal government's task to set an example in terms of sustainable development, which is why such initiatives are noteworthy to say the least.

More so given the fact that information and communications technologies stand to really make a difference on the long run, primarily because they reduce energy use and up overall productivity levels.