US
Embassy in Panama Practices "Green"
Diplomacy
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US
Embassy in Panama Practices "Green"
Diplomacy
When the U.S. Department of State planned
its new embassy in Panama City, it aimed to
maintain the environment's integrity and
save energy costs in the process.
In what amounts to a "green" diplomatic
effort, the U.S. Embassy in Panama is the
second American Embassy built to meet the
energy and environmental standards
established by the nonprofit U.S. Green
Building Council. The USGBC awards four
levels of certification for so-called
"green" buildings. Embassies in Sofia,
Bulgaria, and Panama City have achieved the
system's most modest rating for sustainable
features such as reduced water and energy
consumption.
"From a builders perspective, the whole
point of building is to reduce first costs,
or the costs of producing a complete
structure", said Donna McIntire,
sustainability program manager and founder
of the State Department's "green team",
whose mission is to limit inefficiencies in
the use of energy and water at ambassadorial
compounds. "But green building puts more
emphasis on long-term costs. The government
will operate these buildings for 20, 30
years or more in some cases."
She said that, in addition to being
cost-efficient, the new embassy building is
"good foreign policy."
A quarter of the materials used in the
million project were purchased locally.
According to a USGBC report, the embassy's
energy costs are one-quarter below those of
a traditionally built structure. Water use
inside the embassy is one-third what it
would be in a typical building, and outdoor
water use on its 43-acre (17-hectare)
property is half what would be expected with
standard equipment.
The State Department has a total budget for
the fiscal year that began in October 2008
in excess of .7 billion to manage 18,000
facilities in more than 280 locations around
the world, as well as to build new
facilities and rehabilitate existing ones.
After the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the
department's Office of Buildings Operations
(OBO) developed a standard design plan for
new consular facilities, incorporating
higher security and environmentally friendly
design elements, said OBO spokesman Jonathan
Blyth.
Sixty-five complexes have been completed
with the new design since 2001. After 2001,
OBO hired American firm Einhorn Yaffee
Prescott Architecture & Engineering P.C. to
improve the environmental and energy
features in the designs, and 31 projects are
under way to meet those standards.
Blyth said all new embassies will meet the
USGBC benchmark.
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