Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I’m Bruce Oreck, I am the US Ambassador to Finland, I am the chairman of the League
of Green Embassies, and I am here in Belgium with my friend Bill Miner, who is with the
Overseas Building Operations. Let me make this simple, when someone in an embassy, US
Embassy, anyone in the World has something they want to do that is green or sustainable
energy efficient, this is the man we come to. And he has a title I can’t even remember,
other than he’s the ‘go to’ guy. So what is your title, Bill? Mr. Ambassador,
thanks so much for inviting me and having me here. I am the director for of the office
of design and engineering for the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations in the US Department
of State… and yes I manage and lead our green initiatives, form the OBO green team,
and I’ve gotten a lot of high level commitment for the work that we do. I’ve been very
proud of the work we’ve been able to do, in terms of energy efficiency on embassy buildings
and enjoyed this venue today and yesterday where I exchanged this information with that
rest of the World … I think one the many respects that we find that so many of the
things that the US Government does to, in these areas of sustainability, energy efficiency,
ends up being sort of a secret here in Europe and I think our objective in getting you guys
to stop being just effective in Washington and coming overseas is to tell that story…
Yeah, absolutely, we learn a lot whenever we get out our comfort zone, get out of the
US, and see what’s happening in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, even in developing countries
there are great lessons to be learned about sustainability, how to do more with less.