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The "Green Team"
Promoting Green Construction & Operations
The environmental impacts of major development projects – office buildings, shopping malls, sports stadiums, college campuses, and the like -- don’t end with construction. From design to construction to operation and maintenance and all the way through to demolition, a development can use tremendous amounts of energy and natural resources, while generating large quantities of waste. Buildings, through the sheer amount of power they use, are responsible for some 40 percent of the nation’s energy consumption and 40 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions. For these reasons, EPA Region 2 works in partnership with public and private organizations to reduce the environmental impacts of their projects, which in turn, can reduce construction, operation and maintenance costs.
EPA Region 2 has assembled a team of experts -- known as the Green Team -- that helps building developers and facility managers incorporate more sustainable construction, operation and maintenance practices through voluntary agreements called memorandums of understanding (MOU’s).
The Green MOUs are tailored to each project and incorporate technologies and practices that can help project sponsors to:
- Improve energy and water efficiency
- Utilize renewable energy
- Reduce waste generation and increase recycling, including food waste composting
- Increase reuse and recycling of construction and other materials
- Use environmentally–friendly building materials, maintenance products and landscaping
- Save Money
As of January 1, 2011, 14 Green MOU Partners have joined EPA in “Going Green” in a real and measurable manner. Five sectors are represented: retail, professional sports teams, higher education, real estate/property management and health care/hospitals. So far, our partners include (follow the links to read the associated press releases):
- Bayonne Medical Center
- Cushman and Wakefield
- DestinyUSA
- Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc.
- Kean University [PDF 893 KB, 10 pp]
- Monmouth University
- Montclair State University
- New Meadowlands Stadium (New York Giants / New York Jets) | Watch the Video
- New York Mets
- North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
- Raritan Valley Community College
- Reckson/SL Green
- Rutgers University
- Southampton Hospital
- St. John’s University
- Stony Brook University Hospital
- SUNY - University at Buffalo
- US Naval Weapons Station Earle
A few of the many achievements of the Green MOU program are:
- Over 4,000 buildings are being constructed/operated in a green and sustainable manner.
- The program has measured greenhouse gas reductions that add up to a huge environmental impact of 447,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MTCO2e).
- Our Green MOU partners have also proven that "Going Green saves Green" by reducing costs by over $36 million dollars.
- EPA has provided individualized Environmental Assessment Reports that quantify the environmental benefits and the climate profile of each partner.
- EPA calculates GHG and Carbon Footprint Reductions and translates these into Real-Life Equivalents (i.e. 1,000 barrels of oil conserved).
- The Green MOU provides a complete compendium of an organization’s Green and Sustainable Activities in one document
- The Green MOU and EPA Environmental Assessment are valuable tools for communicating environmental benefits to management, employees, customers, the public and other stakeholders.
If you represent a large corporation, higher education institution, health care facility, or the like, operating in the Region 2 area (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands) and are interested in becoming a Green MOU partner, please contact Andrew Bellina, PE, at 212-637-4126 or GreenTeam.Region2@epa.gov.
- Read the Green Team agreements and the EPA Environmental Assessment Reports.
- View a list of EPA's partnership programs.
