The Obama administration is dedicated to improving the overall energy efficiency of government buildings. Ultimately, the federal government is targeting a 28 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Energy efficient retrofits of the nearly half a million existing federal buildings as well as constructing new buildings to green building code will help the government achieve this goal. Although this reduction has a 10-year timeline, the federal government is already acting on these plans. A new Department of Defense building will soon begin the construction phase and it is already on track for a LEED Silver certification.

 

Construction of the new Hazardous Material Response Facility (HMRF) is scheduled to begin later this month. Four different design and construction teams submitted plans for the HMRF building and ultimately the architectural firm of Lord, Aeck & Sargent and the construction firm The Christman Company were chosen to go forward with the building, which features many green building design elements.

 

A few of the eco-friendly features include:

Lord, Aeck & Sargent has a strong history in environmentally friendly design. The company was the first firm to sign up for The 2030 Challenge and has designed several LEED certified or LEED registered projects including the James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building at the University of Utah, the Harris A. Smith Building at Clemson University, and the LEED Platinum rated Southface ECO Office in Atlanta.