Buying Green Can Be Rewarding
Under the GreenBuy Award Program, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites receive recognition for purchasing programs that obtain sustainable products and services, save energy, conserve water, and reduce negative health and environmental impact. Sites that choose to participate in this voluntary program have the option to go beyond meeting all sustainable acquisition requirements and demonstrate leadership by working toward a GreenBuy or a GreenSpace Award. Although the GreenBuy Award Program is specific to DOE, it can be used by other organizations as a template for developing other sustainable acquisition award programs.
The GreenBuy Award Program is based on a Priority Products List, which identifies a set of products with leadership-level sustainability goals that DOE established to help incentivize sustainable acquisition efforts. The sustainability goals are based on evaluations of environmental performance standards, ecolabels, and input from DOE sites as well as external organizations. The goals often go beyond the U.S. Federal requirements, but do not preclude responsibility for meeting the Federal sustainable acquisition requirements. The GreenSpace Award is a new component of the GreenBuy Award Program.
The GreenSpace Award is for achieving goals for multiple products within a single space or function: cafeteria, conference room/auditorium, fleet, or grounds/landscaping. The products are the same as those for the GreenBuy Award but are limited to those applicable to the particular space or function. To learn more about the U.S. DOE GreenBuy Award Program and the Priority Products List, visit this page.
