GSA Goes Deep Green With Next-Gen Green Leasing Standards

Nov. 07, 2011 - William Pentland - forbes.com

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is adopting changes to its standard lease language to enhance energy and water efficiency in the more than 190 million square feet of office space the federal agency leases across the United States.

The GSA leases space in more than 8,000 buildings, which makes it one of the nation’s largest tenants. The newly-adopted green leasing provisions will reduce energy consumption and costs in these buildings and likely accelerate the adoption of green-leasing practices in mainstream real-estate markets.

The Institute for Market Transformation, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that promotes energy efficiency and green building, summarized three key changes in the GSA’s new green-leasing provisions in a press release issued today.

• Energy Star exemptions: Federal agencies are required to lease space in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR-labeled buildings. But because buildings must have had 50% occupancy in the most recent year to achieve the ENERGY STAR label, some energy-efficient buildings were ineligible for government leases due to low occupancy. GSA has extended the window to 18 months for buildings to reach ENERGY STAR as a way of addressing this problem and improving competition among offerors.



• Plug loads: Plug loads can account for more than 25% of a building’s energy use. GSA is measuring actual usage from federal buildings and adjusting the required minimum electrical distribution downward to reflect their findings. This guidance lowers the lease requirement from 7 Watts per square foot to 4 Watts per square foot.



• Water: GSA has committed to conserving water by mandating that replacement plumbing fixtures meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense guidelines for flush rates. WaterSense-equivalent fixtures reduce toilet flush rates by 20% and urinal flush rates by 50%. Utility Reporting: For all new leases, the government may require that landlords deliver quarterly utility consumption reports.