Companies offering products and services that go into green buildings and green offices are the big winners of the federal government’s latest sustainability push.

Within the next 90 days, all federal agencies have to explain how they’ll reduce energy and water usage and, of course, explain how they’ll reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The agencies have to have these plans ready by Jan. 5, 2010 under an executive order signed last week by President Obama.

A similar order by President Bush ordered federal agencies to purchase eco-friendly electronics products — those that are certified under the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) program run by the Green Electronics Council.

But Obama’s order pushes federal agencies much more aggressively to make federal buildings much greener. The agencies that run the government’s 500,000 buildings have to meet a number of green goals, such as:

• imposing sustainability purchase requirements in 95% of federal contracts
• improving water efficiency by 26%
• increasing recycling and waste diversions from landfills by 50%, and
• reducing petroleum fuel purchases for federal fleets by 30%.

To meet these goals, federal agencies will have to purchase environmentally preferred products and services, promote wider use of renewable energy systems (wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels), set net-zero-energy building requirements, purchase alternative fuel vehicles, and reduce stormwater runoff.

Those supplying federal agencies may also find themselves voluntarily reporting their GHG emissions and reporting how they’re actively trying to reduce these emissions. Vendors will be pressured to do this because Obama has ordered the General Services Administration, the agency that buys most of the products for federal agencies, to study how to create a GHG registry for GSA vendors.

This would have major repercussions throughout the supply chain feeding federal agencies. Vendors not on the list or not making progress in reducing their GHG releases could be locked out of federal contracts.

The information to do this would likely be based on the GHG emission data that will be reported to EPA starting next year.

The 2009 GSA Global Supply Catalog: Environmental Products is available here.

Tags: green buildings, GSA, renewable energy, stormwater