ETL 1110-3-491
7 May 01
APPENDIX B
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
FOR MILITARY FACILITIES
1. Background
a. On June 3, 1999 Executive Order (E.O.) 13123, "Greening the Government
Through Efficient Energy Management" was signed. This E.O. establishes goals for
greenhouse Gases (GHG) reduction, energy efficiency improvement, industrial and
laboratory facilities, renewable energy, petroleum, source energy, and water
conservation. E.O. 13123, Part 2 GOALS, lists seven goals for facilities. Six of the
seven specifically emphasize that "life-cycle cost-effective" means are to be used to
comply with these goals. The E.O. specifically states that: "agencies shall apply such
principles to the siting, design, and construction of new facilities. Agencies shall
optimize life-cycle costs, pollution, and other environmental and energy costs
associated with the construction, life-cycle operation, and decommissioning of the
facility." This emphasis on life-cycle cost effectiveness may, in many occasions, make it
more difficult to achieve goals established by this E.O.. E.O.'s 12902, 12845 and 12795
are revoked by E.O. 13123.
b. On August 6, 1993 Executive Order (EO) 12873, "Federal Acquisition, Recycling,
and Waste Prevention," was signed. Section 401 of this E.O. states that "In developing
plans, drawings, work statements, specifications, or other product descriptions,
agencies shall consider the following factors: elimination of virgin material requirements;
use of recovered materials; reuse of product; life cycle cost; recyclability; use of
environmentally preferable products; waste prevention (including toxicity reduction or
elimination); and ultimate disposal, as appropriate." The EO also directed the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develop guidance to help federal agencies
incorporate environmental preferability into their purchasing procedures.
c. In response to EO 12873, EPA developed Comprehensive Procurement
Guidelines (CPG I and II). These are the first formal regulations implementing
sustainability requirements. The companion Recovered Materials Advisory Notices
(RMAN I and II) contain EPA's recommendations for purchasing all items designated in
the final CPGs. Currently, EPA has designated 36 items that are, or can be,
manufactured using recycled and recovered materials. Construction, landscape, park
and recreation products are among the designated items. Federal Agencies are
required to purchase EPA-designated items meeting minimum recycled-content
standards unless they are not available within a reasonable period of time; fail to meet
reasonable specification standards; are not available from two or more sources (to
maintain competition); or are unreasonably priced (5% higher than comparable non-
recycled products). Recycled-content purchase requirements are discussed in EPA's
"Federal Recycling Guide for Waste Prevention, Recycling and Buying Recycled."
B-2
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