Executive Order 13423 Technical Guidance - Meeting Needs with Space Optimization and Alternative Workplace Arrangements
Technical Guidance
Even the greenest buildings of today have negative effects on the environment. Before deciding if a new building is necessary to meet your agency's needs, ask yourself a few questions:
- Can people and/or schedules be rearranged to optimize existing space?
- Can existing occupied space be rearranged to meet needs?
- Can an existing owned/leased space/building be renovated? In most cases renovating and existing building will require less materials and energy then building new.
- Can space in another existing building be leased or bought to meet our needs?
In accordance with 40 U.S.C. § 587(c)(2), (Pub. L. 104-208, div. A, title I, § 101(f), title IV, § 407(a), (September 30, 1996)), as revised, restated, and recodified without substantive change, by Pub. L. 107-217 (August 21, 2002), when considering whether to acquire any space, quarters, buildings, or other facilities for use by employees of any Executive agency, the head of that agency shall consider whether the need for the facilities can be met using AWA. See FMR Guidelines for Alternative Workplace Arrangements
Space optimization and material optimization are the most often-overlooked keys to green building. A building that minimizes construction of space will cut materials, water, and energy impacts for the life of the building (while cutting costs). For example, consider a building that is already 30% more energy efficient than a typical code-compliant building. If that building is "right-sized" to 90% of its original concept size (cut by 10% through thoughtful design), it will then use 33% less energy than the comparable code-compliant building—a gain of another 3%. Apply that same logic to materials, and the same thing happens. Often, we celebrate "green" material like linoleum, but fail to notice the "green" value of sealed concrete that required no flooring cover at all.
In almost all building projects, there is an opportunity to minimize space. For example, EPA has:
- required programs to share conference rooms,
- double-loaded hallways,
- used lines of sight versus extra doors in restrooms, and
- eliminated other unnecessary doors among other strategies.
We should first optimize space and minimize material, and then take the next step of applying "green" materials and building efficient systems.
