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October 15th, 2010 by Michel Gelobter Last week, my colleague Joel Riciputi and I were honored to attend the White House for the GreenGov Presidential Awards – a terrific celebration of the many ways the Federal government is leading the way on clean energy and conservation. I’ve written here before about the importance of Executive Order 13514, in which President Obama is pushing our government to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20%, to design and build nothing but zero-energy buildings by 2030, and to think across its entire supply chain about how to promote and to embody sustainability. The Presidential Awards were for the do-ers – those who had been innovating long before the Executive Order was issued and those at the cutting edge of practice today. The awardees included: It’s always intimidating to go to the White House, but the setting was an intimate capstone to a week of programs and announcements about how the Federal government was leading-by-example to save energy and drive sustainability. From solar panels on the White House roof to the Department of Defense’s strong commitment to renewable energy (even in their fields of operation), agencies and their leaders came together to share best practices, learn how to reach higher, and, frankly, compete to see who could cut more energy or engage more citizens and employees in sustainable behaviors. Earlier in the day, we addressed an audience of over 100 agency staff looking for enterprise environmental and energy management solutions like Hara. From meeting the January, 2011 greenhouse gas reporting deadline set by OMB to driving down commute times, federal agencies have no shortage of data to collect and initiatives to implement and monitor. And we learned a lot about how the government is thinking about its procurement policies and supply chain as a way to extend sustainable practices more broadly. The night of the awards was pretty special, and we felt lucky to be there. Serenaded by the U.S. Air Force Ceremonial Band and witnessing the Presentation of Colors (our flag), we got to witness first-hand how, from members of the Cabinet down to field staff in energy labs, a new generation of leadership is driving change across our nation’s largest organization. As Martha Johnson, Administrator of the General Services Administration told us, this effort was “our moonshot.” Cool metaphor for a great project, and we were glad to be part of it.

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