National Archives Releases Benchmarks to Meet Energy and Sustainability Goals
Press Release · Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Washington, DC

National Archives Wins Greengov Award

Today, the National Archives and Records Administration released its fiscal year 2010 scorecard on sustainability and energy performance. The scorecard is available online [http://www.archives.gov/about/plans-reports/sustainability/2010-sustainability-scorecard.pdf].

The National Archives is a recent recipient of a prestigious Presidential GreenGov Award for Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance in the “Lean, Clean and Green” category. Building on these successes, the agency will use this scorecard as a benchmark to further track opportunities to reduce pollution, improve efficiency, and cut costs.

Under Executive Order 13514, President Obama directed Federal agencies to lead by example in clean energy; and to meet a range of energy, water, pollution, and waste reduction targets. Based on scorecard benchmarks, the Archives will update its Sustainability Plan, by June, 2011. The current plan is posted publically on its web site [http://www.archives.gov/about/plans-reports/sustainability/].

“This scorecard serves as an important tool to help us develop targets to reduce waste and increase efficiency in our operations,” said David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States. “We are proud to be one of the top agencies in the federal government and are now armed with data to know where we are so that we can address areas needing improvement, and to expand on successes.”

Despite the energy-intensive mission of preserving America’s documentary heritage within strict temperature and humidity parameters, the National Archives has consistently exceeded all the goals to decrease energy use per square foot; decrease potable water use per square foot; establish inventories of direct and indirect GHG emissions; and, increase renewable energy use.

The National Archives is leading the charge in energy reduction, achieving an impressive 31% reduction this fiscal year, well ahead of the 2015 deadline. Similarly, potable water reduction is down 18.8% and we are confident in achieving 26% well ahead of the 2020 deadline. Renewable energy usage is up to 6.2%. In the last two years the Archives has installed 105KW of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of it College Park, MD facility. Another 35KW is planned for this fiscal year as well as installing a new white reflective roof. The agency also installed 375 KW of co-generation units this fiscal year to increase our on-site generation capabilities and is installing a new waste heat capture system to reclaim energy before it is exhausted from the building. We are particularly proud of the installation of a storm water capture system which utilizes stored rainwater to completely irrigate the 33 acre College Park complex. Due to a strong commitment to sustainable operations, the Archives has been able to implement these and several other significant upgrades within its current budget authority and has requested no additional funds.

Areas showing a need for improvement include decrease fleet petroleum use and incorporate sustainable building practices. “Although the Archives mission continues to increase with more records being produced and more requests for record pick-ups and deliveries, we will continue to pursue alternative fuel vehicles and seek ways to reduce inefficiencies in our fleet. Sustainable building practices present several challenges. Our Presidential Library system has several historic properties, some dating back to the 1940’s, making them very difficult to apply 21st century building principles to” said Mark Sprouse, National Archives Sustainability Officer.

In contrast, the William Jefferson Clinton Library recently achieved LEED Platinum EB ( the first existing federal building to do so) and the George W. Bush Library is being designed to LEED Platinum and will incorporate all the latest in sustainable practices. The National Archives is presently re-writing the Presidential Library Design Guide to incorporate all Sustainable Building practices and will continue to incorporate best practices in existing buildings.

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For press information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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