Washington, DC - Federal Triangle

photo: Federal Triangle Complex in Washington, DC

This facility features the following green attributes:
Green Power

EPA's National Headquarters Facilities

Total Facility Area: 1,885,544 rentable square feet (EPA share)
Estimated Personnel: 5,365 EPA personnel
Energy Consumption: 174,162,160,918 Btu per year (EPA share)
Btu per Rentable Square Foot per Year: 92,367
Water Consumption: not available

All energy data are reported as of FY 2006.

Description

EPA moved into its current Headquarters complex at Federal Triangle over a period of five years. EPA's Federal Triangle facilities include office buildings known as Ariel Rios North and South, EPA East, EPA West, and portions of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Final moves into the Federal Triangle complex occurred in August 2001. Headquarters has been working to establish a number of programs that help reduce the Agency's environmental footprint in this historic area of Washington, DC.

In addition to the Federal Triangle facilities, EPA Headquarters occupies space in several other buildings in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, including:

2007 Appreciation Award Winner

Unique Environmental Features

Green Power

In FY 2008, EPA continued to support the renewable energy market by purchasing more than 212 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power through two separate Agencywide blanket contracts for renewable energy certificates (RECs), or “green tags,” from Sterling Planet, Luminant Energy Company, and FPL Energy . These purchases allowed EPA to offset 100 percent of electricity consumption for FY 2008 at Federal Triangle, as well as many other EPA facilities across the Agency. Procured through the Defense Energy Support Center, these contracts support renewable energy generation from wind, biomass, and landfill gas resources in nine states.
In FY 2004, EPA replaced its existing green power contract at Federal Triangle with a new contract for 44 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year in the form of renewable energy certificates (RECs). The three-year agreement, which began on October 1, 2004, and ran through September 30, 2007, offset 100 percent of annual electricity consumption at the Headquarters facility. This commitment supported the annual generation of 11.2 million kWh of green power from wind farms in Thomas, West Virginia, and Waymart, Pennsylvania, and 33.6 million kWh of green power from landfill gas facilities in Fauquier County, Virginia, and Boyerstown, Pennsylvania. The Federal Triangle offices began purchasing RECs in October 2003.

Stormwater Management

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

EPA's Office of Water and Office of Administration and Resources Management, in collaboration with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), are demonstrating low impact development (LID) and sustainable stormwater management practices in a multi-year, multi-phased LID project at the Federal Triangle Headquarters campus in Washington, DC. The Agency hopes not only to reduce the volume, discharge rate, and pollution levels of its stormwater run-off, but also demonstrate that sustainable design and LID can be used in high-profile, urban sites with rigorous aesthetic design requirements. EPA Headquarters is incorporating several LID strategies at the Federal Triangle complex. The first phase of the project, which included bioretention cells and a soil/grass stabilization/parking area installed along Constitution Avenue, was completed in spring 2005. Construction of porous paving, native landscaping, and a rainwater collection system at the Ariel Rios South Courtyard was completed in December 2006. The third and final phase, which included the installation of cisterns in the EPA West Garage, was completed in summer 2008.
The Ariel Rios South Courtyard project garnered a 2007 Landscape Contractors Association Grand Award for Commercial Landscape Installation for EPA's contractor on the project, John Shorb Landscaping. See the May 2008 issue of Groundwork (PDF) (2 pp, 817 K), a publication of the Landscape Contractors Association, for more information on the award.

Waste Reduction and Recycling

Between August 2003 and May 2004, EPA successfully instituted a new recycling program at its Headquarters facilities at Federal Triangle and other EPA Headquarters facilities throughout the DC metropolitan area. The goals of the program are to standardize recycling procedures at the numerous Headquarters locations, increase employee participation, and increase EPA's recycling rate. The revised program focuses on mixed office paper, newspaper, cans, plastic and glass bottles, corrugated cardboard, and toner cartridges.

Alternative Transportation

In FY 2007, EPA purchased 124 alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and achieved 108 percent of its EPAct 2005 mandated goal for light-duty vehicle acquisitions. Since 2000, EPA has exceeded the requirements of Executive Order 13149, which calls for at least 75 percent of new vehicle acquisitions to be AFVs.
In January 2002, compressed natural gas buses were acquired for Headquarters shuttle bus routes, significantly reducing EPA's use of petroleum and reducing particulate emissions in the Washington, DC, area.

For More Information

EPA Environmental Testing Requirements for Furniture (PDF) (20 pp, 200K). Contains the original criteria used in the furniture procurement for the EPA Headquarters, including EPA emissions testing requirements for systems furniture.
EPA's Furniture Manufacturers Environmental Assessment Checklist (PDF) (5 pp, 61K). During furniture procurement for EPA's new Headquarters, the Agency assessed environmental policies at each manufacturer’s facility(ies), including issues of global pollution, energy conservation, resource conservation, and human health and safety.
Leading By Example (PDF) (78 pp, 1.3MB). This case study describes the environmental features of the Ariel Rios Headquarters building.

Contact

Yvette Jackson (jackson.yvette@epa.gov)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: (202) 564-7231