An under-the-radar U.S. agency is driving efforts to reduce emissions from buildings, plowing billions of dollars into testing and deploying new carbon-cutting technologies and materials at properties owned by the federal government.
The US General Services Administration, or GSA, was established 75 years ago to help the national government save money by streamlining operations. It centralized general administrative responsibilities, including purchasing goods and services and overseeing many federal buildings.
Today, the GSA manages one of the largest commercial real estate portfolios in the country. It owns and leases nearly 8,800 buildings, covering 370 million square feet, including offices, laboratories, warehouses and data centers. Now the agency is racing to decarbonize both their construction and operations.
President Joe Biden signed a executive order in 2021 mandated the federal government to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, with its buildings to meet that target by 2045. American buildings present a major climate opportunity; in their materials and operations, they account about a third of the nation’s emissions, according to the Department of Energy, or DOE.
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in history, the GSA provided $3.4 billion to help decarbonize federal buildings. With this IRA funding, the GSA is not only pushing its own portfolio to net zero, but is also leveraging newer carbon-cutting materials and technologies to drive broader market adoption, GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan told Canary Media.
More than $2 billion of this funding is for the purchase of common construction materials, such as concrete, glass, steel and asphalt, with low amounts of embodied carbon – the emissions produced by making and shipping the goods. Last November, the GSA announced the funding would go to more than 150 construction projects across the US
In addition, nearly $1 billion of the IRA dollars will go toward evaluating and implementing emerging technologies that can reduce carbon emissions from building operations. The agency is putting these innovative technologies to the test through an initiative called Green Test Ground. The program, established in 2011, installs American-made technologies at federal buildings, which scientists at DOE’s national laboratories then evaluate to measure their performance under real-world conditions. Along the way, the agencies share feedback with the companies that manufacture the technologies, which may not have the resources to conduct such extensive testing themselves.
By demonstrating these innovations in real-world environments, Green Proving Ground makes it easier for contractors — those who typically decide which energy-saving technologies to install — to see their value, Carnahan said. Of the nearly $1 billion in IRA funding, $30 million goes to this program, which is jointly administered by the GSA and the DOE.
So far, 107 technologies have been evaluated by Green Proving Ground, and 23 of them – including super insulated windows with four panes — is deployed in more than a third of GSA’s portfolio of government-owned buildings.
On July 18, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, Carnahan announced that the GSA will invest $9.6 million to install and evaluate a new group of 17 innovative technologies, with results expected to be available in 2026.
“We’re very excited to figure out how to roll this out in our facilities,” Carnahan said.
The latest nominees include Sublime systems low-carbon concrete; Brightcore Energy’s geothermal heat pumpswhich can be installed in tight urban places, such as basements; Lamarr.Ai’s drone-based infrared imaging, which conducts energy audits on building envelopes; Nostromo Energy modular ice-based storage of thermal energy; and The of Tears air-to-water heat pumpfurther exploding the myth that the technology doesn’t work in icy climates by operating efficiently down to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another innovation which Jetta WongGSA’s senior adviser on climate, called out the phase-change ceiling tile made by Armstrong World Industries. To keep indoor temperatures comfortable, the tiles absorb heat when it’s hot and release heat when it’s cold, supplementing HVAC systems. It’s a walk-in technology that can be used anywhere typical ceiling tiles would be. “It’s a game changer,” Wong said, because construction companies don’t need special training to install the tiles.
While Green Proving Ground evaluates technology, the GSA is using most of the nearly $1 billion in funding to actually install upgrades that clean up building operations. These updates will impact about 40 million square feet, or about 20 percent of its portfolio, and include more conventional technology such as highly efficient heat pumps, insulation, LEDs and solar panels. Through the projects, the GSA will electrify 100 government buildings, achieving net zero emissions for 28 of them.
Some of the buildings in the agency’s portfolio have already met the net-zero benchmark, Carnahan said. She pointed to the historic Wayne N. Aspinall Federal Building and US Courthouse in Grand Junction, Colorado. With a extensive conversion completed in 2013, the 1918 structure became the GSA’s first net-zero building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. About 200 GSA buildings are already all-electric, according to the agency.
The Denver Federal Center, another GSA property, is on the way to net zero. The 35-building campus will employ heat pumps that draw thermal energy from the air and the ground, use solar panels for on-site power, and better seal and insulate buildings to become more energy efficient. The Denver site is also a long-standing testbed for early-stage technologies in the Green Proving Ground program.
Looking ahead, the GSA’s work to decarbonize buildings and make them more efficient is unlikely to change even if former President Donald Trump is re-elected in November, according to Carnahan. The agency has been reducing energy use in buildings for 35 years, throughout Democratic and Republican administrations, she explained.
“It makes sense to save money,” she said. “As long as [green upgrades] make economic sense, I’m sure they will continue to happen.”
