It will be interesting to see what influence the U.S. General Services Administration's first "chief greening officer" will have on the larger green building community. Eleni Reed, former director of sustainability strategies for Cushman and Wakefield's Client Solutions Group, recently was selected to take the position and help the agency "lead by example in greening and modernizing the nation's infrastructure," complying with a presidential directive. Will the new chief greening officer inspire the private sector to work toward a "zero environmental footprint" for its buildings, just as GSA intends to do for the roughly 9,600 buildings it owns and leases? Will other countries reciprocate by creating comparable positions within their governments? More details about Reed's selection are included in this edition of Green Building Insider.
Also in this issue, there are several new developments to report involving the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, 11 new items have been added to
GBI's "News Ahead" calendar of upcoming news events, various federal entities have taken steps this month to improve energy efficiency in buildings nationwide, a
GBI webinar held earlier this month offered some key advice for successfully building green in a tough economy, and legislative activities addressing green buildings are profiled for five more states, and a new report estimates that the global market for green building materials could reach $406 billion by 2015.
