Greening the White House: Executive Mansion as Symbol of Sustainability

Ted Shelton, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Abstract

Over the last thirty years, presidents from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush have introduced an array of environmentally progressive technologies and strategies to the White House (and have, at least once, eliminated them). These modifications were made for reasons both ethical and political—motivations that shifted over time and responded to changes in American societal attitudes toward green building. These changing postures reveal how the White House is used by both to reflect public policy and to provide an example of steps that could be taken to increase the sustainability of the average home or office.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1531-314X.2007.00106.x