• Federal High Performance and Sustainable Buildings
  • Policy Background
  • New Construction and Major Renovation
  • Existing Buildings
  • Supporting Technical Guidance
• Federal Mandates
• Construction Criteria Base
• ProductGuide
• Periodicals
• Case Studies
• Participating Agencies
• Industry Organizations

Supporting Technical Guidance

Along with the resources found in the Guiding Principles Resource pages for New Construction and Major Renovations, and Existing Buildings, there exists other technical guidance that is relevant to meeting federal high performance and sustainable building (HPSB) requirements.

The Case for HPSB

• Why Build Green? – Making the Environmental case for high performance sustainable building design.
• FEMP Business Case – Provides significant financial evidence from research findings and case studies that sustainable design is a smart business choice.

General Supporting Guidance

• Security and Sustainability. Provides designers with an understanding of the interaction between security and safety and sustainability objectives.
• Working with GSA–Leasing. GSA Green Lease policies and procedures.
• Other Key Technical Guidance. Additional key technical guidance on Sustainable Buildings and Campuses, Operations and Maintenance, Greenhouse Gases, Water Efficiency, Data Center Efficiency, Industrial Facilities, and Federal Fleet Management.

Other Key HPSB Strategies

• Operations & Maintenance. Resources to ensure that building personnel are able to operate and maintain buildings according to their design.
• Building Information Modeling (BIM). BIM is a data rich digital representation tool cataloging the physical and functional characteristics of design and construction.
• Post-Occupancy Evaluations. This is a continuous process of systematically evaluating the performance and/or effectiveness of one or more aspects of buildings in relation to issues such as accessibility, aesthetics, cost-effectiveness, functionality, productivity, safety and security, and sustainability.
• Space Optimization and Alternative Workplace Arrangements. Meeting needs with space optimization and alternative workplace arrangements.
• Sustainable Sites & Smart Growth. Strategies for minimizing development of open space, controlling erosion, considering energy implications in site selection and building orientation, reducing heat islands using landscaping and building design methods, minimizing habitat disturbance, restoring the health of degraded sites, and designing for sustainable transportation.
• Interior Noise. Recommendations for interior noise control.

HPSB Technologies

• Latest Technologies. Federal energy managers must remain up-to-date on the latest technologies to make choices that are cost-effective, energy-smart, environmentally sound, and reliable.

Funding HPSB

• Creative Funding Strategies & Lifecycle Costing (LCC). Utilizing unique contracting mechanisms to fund projects.
• Funding & Financing Mechanisms. Carefully matching available financing mechanisms, such as Energy Savings Performance Contracts, Utility Energy Services Contracts, Power Purchase Agreements, and Energy Incentive Programs, with specific project needs can make the difference between a stalled, unfunded project and a successful project generating energy and cost savings.
• Life-Cycle Assessment. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) provides a formal process of examining the environmental impacts of a material, product, or service through its entire life-cycle.

Performance of Federal Buildings

• Building Cost and Performance Metrics: Data Collection Protocol. This building cost and performance measurement protocol was developed to perform high-level comparative analysis of Federal sustainably-designed green building performance.
• High Performance Federal Buildings Database. A database showcasing examples of sustainable building projects in the federal government.
• High Performance Sustainable Buildings Checklist. Now available through EPA's web-based ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager, this interactive energy and water management tool allows users to track and assess energy and water consumption across entire building portfolios.

Other HPSB Resources

• General Information. Major Resources for High Performance Sustainable Buildings including model contract and specification language.
• Eliminating Priority Chemicals. Federal facilities are to reduce the use of these chemicals by at least 50 percent by December 31, 2006. To date, the workgroup has identified five of the fifteen priority chemicals: cadmium, lead, mercury, naphthalene, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
• Selecting Architectural & Engineering Contractors. Guide for Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services for Sustainable Buildings.
• Green Building Standards & Certification Systems. General information about green building standards and the different certification systems, including USGBC LEED Requirements Many changes have occurred with the launch of the LEED 2009 requirements.