Executive Order 13514 information

Executive Order 13514 (or EO 13514) was an Executive Order, entitled Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, which U.S. President Barack Obama issued on October 5, 2009.^[1][2] EO 13514 was replaced by Executive Order 13693, titled Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade,^[3] issued by Obama on March 19, 2015.^[4] The Office of the Federal Environmental Executive,^[5] whose name was changed to the Office of Federal Sustainability by Executive Order 13693, is housed at the Council on Environmental Quality within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Its role is to oversee policy, guidance, and implementation of the sustainability Executive Order.

Executive Order 13514 required the Federal agencies to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from Federal operations, improve energy efficiency, increase use of renewable energy, reduce water consumption, and purchase energy efficient and environmentally preferable goods and materials. The aggregate Federal government greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal resulting from EO 13514 totaled 28% by 2020, corresponding to a projected $8 - $11 billion reduction in the Federal government's energy bill.^[6]

The Executive Order also required Federal agencies to publish an annual Strategic Sustainability Plan, and called on the Office of Management and Budget to measure and report on Federal agent progress against goals in annual sustainability scorecards. Sustainability scorecard results are published by the Office of Federal Sustainability.^[7]

Executive Order 13514 further mandated that at least 15 percent of existing federal buildings and leases should meet the Guiding Principles for Federal Sustainable Buildings by 2015,^[8] and that annual progress be made toward 100 percent conformance of all federal buildings, with a goal of 100% of all new federal buildings achieving zero-net-energy by 2030. The U.S. government is the largest consumer of energy in America. It has more than 350,000 buildings, and many of these buildings are energy-inefficient. Fifteen percent of 500,000 buildings is 75,000 buildings.

The Executive Order states that "the Federal Government must lead by example ... increase energy efficiency; measure, report, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from direct and indirect activities ... design, construct, maintain, and operate high performance sustainable buildings in sustainable locations; strengthen the vitality and livability of the communities in which Federal facilities are located; and inform Federal employees about and involve them in the achievement of these goals."

"Zero-net-energy building" is defined in Executive Order 13514 as "a building that is designed, constructed, and operated to require a greatly reduced quantity of energy to operate, meet the balance of energy needs from sources of energy that do not produce greenhouse gases, and therefore result in no net emissions of greenhouse gases and be economically viable."