In Episode 19 of the Green Government Podcast we talk with Kevin Kampschroer, Director of the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings at the U.S. General Services Administration. Kevin has created the framework for which GSA responds to the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions reductions and of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s mandate to move GSA’s Federal building inventory toward high-performance green buildings. We talk with Kevin about the importance of green building, sustainable facilities management and how the government can respond to the challenges of green building in tight budget times.
More About Today’s Guest
Kevin Kampschroer is the Director of the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). He has created the framework for which GSA responds to the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions reductions and of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s mandate to move GSA’s Federal building inventory toward high-performance green buildings.
Mr. Kampschroer was the Project Manager for the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, and he has lectured at various universities such as MIT, Harvard and Yale. His most recent publication as a contributing author is the first medical study showing the link between building characteristics on office worker stress and heart function-which showed the beneficial results of good lighting, natural light and IEQ. He has worked for GSA for over 35 years and is a graduate of Yale University.
GSA is responsible for almost 430,000 buildings totaling 3.34 billion sq. ft. and the agency is pioneering green building for the federal government, committed to building to LEED® Gold standards. Beyond LEED®, GSA is examining how and when people use space and adapting design (and rehab) to create workspace that is both efficient and pleasant to work in.
“What excites me is the people component and that’s really what’s new about this office,” says Kampschroer. “A lot of what we do is take existing research on building performance and then study the interaction between building system and people and ask: ‘Why are we doing this?’”
Some improvements come from looking at past designs and asking “what would our great-grandfathers do?,” he says. “In the past, buildings were built around natural ventilation and opening and closing windows. We’re re-learning things that have been forgotten with our reliance on mechanical engineering. Maybe the natural systems are the ones we need to exploit the most.”
Part of the mission of the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings is to provide a forum for high-performance building design in the federal government and apply sustainable design practices. “The big challenge for the building industry is that it’s very fragmented,” says Kampschroer. “There are thousands and thousands of firms and that makes it tough to make changes.”
Kampschroer maintains that “There’s a lot of opportunity for people to be creative in a tight money environment. We can take the lessons about how collaboration, information technology and cloud computing have changed the way people interact and use our buildings more intensively and thus need fewer buildings,” he says. “That frees up money to make the buildings perform better.”
As Director of the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, Kampschroer has created the framework for which GSA responds to the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions reductions and of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s mandate to move GSA’s Federal building inventory toward high-performance green buildings.
Mr. Kampschroer was the Project Manager for the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, and has lectured at various universities such as MIT, Harvard and Yale. His most recent publication as a contributing author is the first medical study showing the link between building characteristics on office worker stress and heart function-which showed the beneficial results of good lighting, natural light and IEQ. He has worked for GSA for over 35 years and is a graduate of Yale University.
Top Resources from the Podcast
In Episode 19, Kevin discusses the top resources for inter-agency communication about higher-performance green building. They are:
About CEIL
The Center for Environmental Innovation and Leadership (CEIL) is an independent organization designed to facilitate information and education exchange among government professionals charged with identifying, specifying, and buying green goods and services and with the vendors, contractors, and consultants that provide green goods and services. CEIL provides an interactive environment for government and industry professionals engaged in green activities that includes educational events, website, podcasts, webcasts, news and a social media. Learn more at www.CEILeadership.org.
CEIL is the sponsor of GOVgreen Conference and Exposition (November 30 – December 1, 2011, Washington Convention Center) which offers educational tracks on facilities, energy, transportation and conservation and an exhibit floor of companies that provide green products and services to the government. GOVgreen’s conference program is free to government and military professionals. Learn more about CEIL at www.GOVgreen.org.
I’ve been to Philadelphia twice in the past week to attend Globalcon and the Brownfield Conference. I can report that the new convention center is pleasant, Reading Terminal is still the best place to eat and the City of Philadelphia is putting significant effort into being green. Philly’s goal is to reclaim waterfront property, put pocket parks within a 10 minute walk of 75% of the population and become a leader in urban farming—turning vacant city space into gardens that provide fresh produce to inner city citizens, offer agriculture training to youth and reduce storm water runoff.
