Experts offer House tips on how to become ‘carbon-neutral’

The House should consider taking on pilot programs as it tries to move toward a “carbon-neutral” environment by the end of the 110th Congress, according to three energy sustainability experts who spoke on the Hill yesterday.

Dan Beard, chief administrative officer of the House, met with the experts to discuss the “Greening the Capitol” initiative. Each came from a university that had experimented with similar programs.

{mosads}Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) recently announced the initiative, and a second report should be released in the coming weeks that will outline how the House can realize that goal.

“We are challenged by a very fractured government structure,” Beard said, noting that each House member and delegate will have a say in the matter.

“Politics is the least of our worries,” Beard added.

Leith Sharp, director of Harvard University’s Green Campus Initiative, discussed Harvard’s effort and noted its “extremely decentralized setting,” with every school in charge of its own endowment.

“Our model has been to make a business,” Sharp said, arguing that while people tend think such a program costs more, it offers a huge return on investment.

Communication about progress and giving the public credit has been key to success, Sharp added.

Matthew St. Clair, sustainability manager of facilities administration for the University of California, offered several suggestions that helped his university system: forming commissions, helping campuses create new positions for these initiatives, and sponsoring forums to exchange ideas.

St. Clair noted that money, knowledge and time were the most difficult challenges that he has faced, but money specifically was the “hardest to crack.”

Meanwhile, Julie Newman, director of the Office of Sustainability at Yale University, said that building coalitions and sustainability committees have been a major focus for her work. In particular, she cited the need to establish committees and pilot programs—as well as building coalitions and finding examples of where such initiatives have worked in design and construction. In addition, she recommended dialogue and a collaborative approach, instead of mandates, to reach those goals.

But the sustainability experts were lukewarm about the benefits of implementing energy-saving performance contracts.
Sharp said that the “quality of service was not sustained over time.”

By contrast, pilot projects were a good way to start, the experts noted. But St. Clair warned that the quickest way for a pilot to fail is not to give it enough attention.

In addition, the initiative should emphasize that the cost-savings will accrue over the long-term, not immediately, the experts said.

“The trick is getting beyond that one-year window,” Beard noted. “We need to think of this in a three to four year window.”