While even Donald Trump mightbe daunted by the sheer size ofPeck’s portfolio, GSA’s aggressivesustainability goals and commitmentto greening the government’swork spaces have upped the ante<strong>for</strong> Peck. “We’re putting ourselvesout there as a green provingground,” Peck says. “We have thisimperative to green our buildings,and one of the things we can bargainwith is to use our money to bea green test ground <strong>for</strong> the privatesector industry. We think we cantest out things, like how well solararrays work.”At one GSA building in Indianapolis,<strong>for</strong> example, there arefour kinds of solar collectors onthe roof to measure which onesproduce the most energy. SanFrancisco’s new federal buildinghas no air conditioning, but lotsof windows that open and it’s narrow,so air can easily flow through.Energy reduction in the buildingwill be significant as a result, andcould be replicated in other temperateclimates. “One of the thingswe can do by being a green provingground is get people com<strong>for</strong>tablewith being an early adopter oftrying things out that aren’t totallyproven,” says Peck. “It’s an innovativeuse of GSA.”Be<strong>for</strong>e Sealed WindowsWhen Peck arrived on the job thistime—he actually headed PBSonce be<strong>for</strong>e, during the Clintonadministration—senior staff madea series of wry videos to encourageemployees to see the agencyin a new way. In one, he waswearing a crown and cape, andcarrying scepter—the king of thefederal real estate empire, or sohe appeared. Then he threw offthe crown, cape and scepter tomake his point: Edicts were notgoing to be coming from him. Thesustainability goals laid out <strong>for</strong> theagency required ideas and innovationfrom everyone in PBS, particularlythose working with GSA’scontractors and clients every day.“The video summed up Bob’sleadership style,” explains a staffmember. “He’s businesslike andinclusive, but also showing in hisactions that it’s okay to have fun.”Bob Peck came back to PBS ata very exciting time in the agency’shistory—with $5.5 billion inAmerican Recovery and ReinvestmentAct money to spend on publicbuildings. The mandates weresimple: spend it quickly <strong>for</strong> projectsthat will create lots of jobs,and spend $4.5 billion of it makingGSA’s buildings greener and moresustainable. GSA planned threecategories of projects <strong>for</strong> the RecoveryAct funds: limited-scopeprojects in the highest energyconsumingbuildings in its inventory,major systems overhaulsand infrastructure improvements,and new construction. The limitedscope and modernization investmentswill improve the energy efficiencyand per<strong>for</strong>mance of thosebuildings and reduce their energyconsumption by approximately 15percent, based on preliminary designgoals.Interestingly, the staff has discoveredthat greening GSA’s 367oldest buildings, built between1800 and 1941, 1 will not be as difficultas it might have seemed.“Twenty-five percent of our buildingsare historic,” says Peck, “likeour own GSA building.” The GSAheadquarters in downtown Wash-1 “State of the Portfolio FY 2009” GSA Public Buildings Service, http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/SOTP09_Final_Spreads_508_Compliant.pdf18 Leadership | <strong>CGI</strong> INITIATIVE FOR COLLABORATIVE GOVERNMENT | S P R I N G 2 0 11
ington, built in 1917, is a granddame of federal office buildings.“We would say now that they createda green building,” Peck says.“They had heat, but no air conditioning,some electric light. Andthey built transoms, so there wasair flow from the windows.”Using all of the original greenfeatures, the GSA headquarters isnow undergoing a $160 million renovationwith Recovery Act funds.“We’re taking this building back tobe<strong>for</strong>e we sealed the windows,”says Peck. “One of the things thisbuilding allows us to do is use daylight.They made big windows andnarrow floors so light could getinto corridors.” Fewer lights alsomake the rooms cooler. There willbe electric lighting, of course, andair conditioning— it’s Washington,D.C., after all, where summers aresteamy. But lighting will be energysavingand automated, so lights goout when no one is in the rooms,and the AC will be controlled inseparate zones. A “cool roof” willkeep out summer heat, and solarwater heating will make use ofWashington’s frequent 90-degreeplussummer days.Net ZeroGSA’s first historic net zero energybuilding—meaning it will generateall the energy it uses—will beThe Wayne Aspinall Federal Buildingand U.S. Courthouse in GrandJunction, Colo. Designed by SupervisingArchitect of the TreasuryJames Wetmore in 1918, thebuilding is the first on the NationalRegister of Historic Places to berenovated to such an aggressivegreen standard.The project has been designedto meet LEED Platinum certification,the highest level of certificationoffered under the U.S. GreenBuilding Council’s rating system,known as Leadership in Energyand Environmental Design orLEED. To achieve LEED Platinum,GSA will install a geothermal heatingand cooling system that usesthe warmth or cold of the groundto control temperature, and a solarpanel array that is projected togenerate enough energy to meetthe building’s electricity demand.Energy produced in excess ofthe amount needed by the buildingwill be exported to Grand Junction’selectrical grid. State-of-theartfluorescent light fixtures withwireless controls will adjust lightingto respond to natural light levels,and storm windows with solarcontrol film will reduce demand <strong>for</strong>heating and cooling. “We’re prettyexcited about it,” Peck said in aninterview in The Dirt, a blog publishedby the American Society ofLandscape Architects.S P R I N G 2 0 11 | COLL ABOR ATIVEGOV.ORG/LE AD | Leadership 19
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