Professionals gather for green building summit

  • Published
  • By Sarah Baine
  • AFCEE Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Green building professionals from the public and private sectors came together May 10 - 11 at the U.S. Green Building Council's Government Summit in Washington, D.C., to discuss the vast potential for implementing sustainability in government buildings and programs.

This year, session topics ranged from the international perspective on green building, to U.S. federal agency action on sustainability, to sustainable communities. The diverse program offered information on sustainability at all levels of government.

Gene F. Mesick, a member of the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment's Technical Division, co-presented a session on "Tracking and Training Sustainable Solutions for Large Real Estate Portfolios."

The presentation centered on what the Government Services Agency and the Department of Defense are doing to transform and improve building and community performance.

"My portion of the presentation focused on the rating system, called Sustainable Communities, which we are building to provide a holistic approach to managing those large portfolios," Mr. Mesick said. "The rating system works towards our goal of greening our installations by utilizing a fence-to-fence approach to sustainability."

This new rating system goes beyond buildings; extending to entire installations. It surveys facilities across the installation to identify opportunities for continuous improvement such as green planning strategies, energy and water reductions on a base-wide scale and mission readiness.

This year, the summit brought together attendees from across the government, all with a vision of a sustainable built environment and market transformation.

"The best part of the Government Summit is the networking to learn what innovations others are employing," Mr. Mesick said. "In between classes, I was able to meet with my Army and Navy counterparts to share best practices, success stories and brainstorm ideas. We are all working together for the same common goal of forming sustainable communities."