U.S. General Services Administration
GSA Green Proving Ground delivers triple win for taxpayers
The federal Green Proving Ground (GPG) program takes advantage of GSA’s substantial real estate portfolio to test innovative building technologies that have the potential to reduce operating costs and help spark market transformation. GPG is a partnership between GSA and the Department of Energy to field-test private industry technologies. Under this program, companies provide their technology for use in federally owned buildings and GSA works with third parties to measure their impact.
The GPG program now has both momentum and funding, with a boost of $30 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to increase the number of technologies the program will evaluate over the next four years. That builds on a $10 million overall GSA investment over the past seven years in the GPG program.
In 2021, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory published a report citing how renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies could prevent as much as 10 percent of GSA’s greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to preventing air pollution, these technologies reduce operating expenses and give energy customers, like the federal government, more control over their energy usage.
“Right now, GSA and the entire Administration are making once-in-a-generation investments to address climate change, bolster our economy and infrastructure, enhance security and sustainability, and build a stronger and more prosperous future,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan, who sat down with past and current GPG program participants in August in New York City to talk about how to springboard energy-conservation technology beyond incubation and into implementation.
Kevin Powell, GPG’s Program Director and GSA’s Director of the Center for Emerging Building Technologies, emphasized that the significance of connected building technology equipment is that it can be integrated into building systems and operated using a single platform for building operations.
“The GPG program is one way we’re creating the technical foundation for long-term, transformational changes,” Carnahan said. “We’re aiming for a triple win: more good American jobs, cost savings to taxpayers from reduced energy consumption and a healthier future for all Americans.”
This article is part of the Fall issue of the FOCUS newsletter. Please visit the Focus Newsletter page to read our newsletter.