Greening the Capitol’ Gets Technical Assistance from Berkeley Lab. ‘The House of Representatives of the United States Congress has decided to set an example by reducing its carbon footprint, an announcement which came from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and colleagues on April 19. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) provided technical assistance to House staff as they developed their plans.
At the news conference, Speaker Pelosi accepted a “Green the Capitol Initiative” report prepared by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House, Daniel Beard. The report provided a number of recommendations to reduce the environmental impacts of the House building complex. Beard’s first recommendation was to operate the House in a carbon-neutral manner—this will require that the House takes steps to reduce its energy use through investing in energy efficiency, purchasing renewable sources of electricity, and finding additional ways to offset its total emissions of greenhouse gases.’
“Greening the Capitol” Page. ‘The environmental challenges we face are as local as our neighborhoods and as global as our planet. The House must lead by example and it is time for Congress to act on its own carbon footprint. Today, we announce our intention to operate the House in a carbon neutral manner at the earliest possible date with a deadline of the end of this Congress.’ – Speaker Pelosi, April 19, 2007.
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