The Gen­er­al Ser­vices Admin­is­tra­tion (GSA) Admin­is­tra­tor Robin Car­na­han, recent­ly announced the instal­la­tion of new grid-inter­ac­tive and smart build­ing tech­nolo­gies that make the Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects design for the new Okla­homa City Fed­er­al Build­ing a nation­al mod­el for clean ener­gy inno­va­tion and effi­cien­cy. The deep ener­gy retro­fit cuts ener­gy use by 41%, car­bon emis­sions by 3,100 met­ric tons and ener­gy costs by $400,000 annu­al­ly. It’s also one of our first Grid Effi­cient Inter­ac­tive Build­ings which helps with grid resilience by allow­ing the local grid to tap into the build­ing’s bat­tery stor­age capacity.

“We are proud to deliv­er on GSA’s first project that demon­strates how we can trans­form fed­er­al build­ings into high-tech clean ener­gy hubs that dynam­i­cal­ly inter­act with the grid, gen­er­ate their own ener­gy, and make the grid stronger and more resilient for the sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ty,” said GSA Admin­is­tra­tor Robin Car­na­han. ​“Right here in Okla­homa City, this project is a ground­break­ing mod­el for the kind of inno­va­tion that we hope to repli­cate across the coun­try through Pres­i­dent Biden’s Invest­ing in America.

“Design­ing the OKC Fed­er­al Build­ing with GSA on that build­ing is one of the high­lights of my career. Many of the ideas that guide my stu­dio about mate­ri­als, ener­gy, work­place com­fort and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment took root dur­ing that design.” Said Car­ol Ross Bar­ney, FAIA, 2023 AIA Gold Medal recip­i­ent, ​“the role that the Fed­er­al gov­ern­ment is play­ing to pre­serve our plan­et is critical.”

Watch the video inter­view here.