GREEN BUILDING: Senate gets greener, inside and out
Robin Bravender
E&E Daily reporter
April 29, 2008
The House has turned some of its neighbors green with envy lately with a series of eco-friendly enterprises -- such as buying 30,000 tons of carbon offsets and ditching styrofoam in their cafeteria -- while the Senate's greening efforts have received little fanfare in comparison. But the upper body may soon have the upper hand.
Several proposed greening projects might mean drastic changes for the Senate's exterior -- including the installation of a vegetative green roof atop the Dirksen office building, built in 1958.
These vegetative roofs have three major advantages, according to Kevin Kampschroer, director of research expert services for the General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service. Green roofs aid in controlling storm water runoff by absorbing rainwater that would have gone into the sewer system. They also add to the life of the roof membrane by protecting it from ultraviolet radiation and add a layer of thermal insulation, reducing the building's energy costs.
If successful, the Senate will have exclusive bragging rights in the Capitol complex.
The Architect of the Capitol undertook a similar study with the Rayburn office building but found that the structure of the building -- completed in 1965 -- could not support the weight, according to Karissa Marcum, a spokeswoman for the House Office of the Chief Administrator.
Although Dirksen is older than Rayburn, Kampschroer said, its age might not preclude it from supporting a green roof. "It would make sense that an older building would be more capable than a newer building [of supporting a green roof]," he said, because older buildings were often constructed with sturdier materials. In 2001, Chicago's City Hall received a lush green roof. The building was completed in 1911.
But vegetation isn't all the Senate hopes to install on its rooftops. Studies are under way to determine the feasibility of installing solar panels on all three of the Senate office buildings -- Hart, Dirksen and Russell -- as well as its child care facilities.
Inside those office buildings, senators say they are getting greener habits, too.
The leaders of the Senate Recycling Caucus, Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), are pushing their colleagues to go even further. "As Congress crafts legislation mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we encourage our Senate colleagues and their employees to continue to reduce their environmental footprints by recycling more and consuming less," Carper and Snowe said in a statement.
The Senate last year recycled more than 990 tons of paper products and other materials -- a 15 percent increase from 2006, Carper and Snowe said.
Other projects the Senate has taken on include switching most of its bulbs to compact fluorescent lights and constructing a stormwater management rain garden to filter runoff from a parking lot.
Despite these measures, the Senate has been criticized for not being as "green" as its counterpart on the south side of the Capitol complex. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) Green the Capitol initiative has set bold goals for the House -- such as operating in a carbon-neutral manner by December of this year and purchasing 100 percent of its electric power from renewable wind sources.
The House recently made headlines across Washington for overhauling its cafeteria to eliminate styrofoam and plastic food service items and composting much of its refuse (E&E Daily, April 18). The Senate recently decided to contract Restaurant Associates -- the same company that revamped the House cafeteria -- to oversee their eatery, according to Eva Malecki, communications officer at the Architect of the Capitol's office.
Malecki said the greening efforts are not about competition. "We don't see it as 'this side versus that side,'" she said. "It's what can we do comprehensively to reduce energy use on Capitol Hill. It's a very comprehensive program and it's one that we've been doing for years."
The Architect of the Capitol's office is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the entire Capitol complex -- including both houses of Congress. The 2005 Energy Policy Act directed the office to investigate adding green roofs on the office buildings.
The House's Greening the Capitol initiative is overseen by the House Office of the Chief Administrator, Dan Beard. "We are encouraged by the progress the Senate has made on greening issues," Marcum said. "The House's Green the Capitol Office looks forward to partnering with the Senate in the future on mutually beneficial energy-saving and greening projects."
"Reprinted from E&E Daily with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net. 202/628-6500"
