Center Ops Director Joel Walker lauded as a ‘Sustainability Hero’
2014-11-05
Though he may be missing an honorary cape, Johnson Space Center’s Director of Center Operations is a hero nonetheless—of the sustainability variety.
Walker was recently named one of two Sustainability Heroes under the GreenGov Presidential Awards. Through a variety of categories, the GreenGov Presidential Awards celebrate extraordinary achievement in the pursuit of President Obama’s Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance. They honor federal civilian and military personnel, agency teams, agency projects and facilities, and agency programs that exemplify President Obama’s charge to lead by example toward a clean energy economy.
Here at JSC, Walker has promoted a sustainability culture that permeates the entire organization. He developed and implemented a multifaceted sustainability management approach that has focused on areas of energy and water reduction, green purchasing, reducing the generation of hazardous waste and increased diversion from landfilling of waste through recycling initiatives. Under his direction, the center constructed seven certified green buildings that use 100 percent green power and average 35-to 40-percent reductions in energy and water consumption of comparable facilities. With Walker’s leadership, JSC has reduced potable water use by 15 percent annually, or more than 60 million gallons per year since 2009, and over the past two years has composted more than 85,000 pounds of food waste.
Clearly, JSC’s very own Sustainability Hero has set the standard for sustainability—and it will be a hard act for any agency or organization to beat.
Read more about Walker’s background and his recent win in his hometown newspaper, the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Walker was recently named one of two Sustainability Heroes under the GreenGov Presidential Awards. Through a variety of categories, the GreenGov Presidential Awards celebrate extraordinary achievement in the pursuit of President Obama’s Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance. They honor federal civilian and military personnel, agency teams, agency projects and facilities, and agency programs that exemplify President Obama’s charge to lead by example toward a clean energy economy.
Here at JSC, Walker has promoted a sustainability culture that permeates the entire organization. He developed and implemented a multifaceted sustainability management approach that has focused on areas of energy and water reduction, green purchasing, reducing the generation of hazardous waste and increased diversion from landfilling of waste through recycling initiatives. Under his direction, the center constructed seven certified green buildings that use 100 percent green power and average 35-to 40-percent reductions in energy and water consumption of comparable facilities. With Walker’s leadership, JSC has reduced potable water use by 15 percent annually, or more than 60 million gallons per year since 2009, and over the past two years has composted more than 85,000 pounds of food waste.
Clearly, JSC’s very own Sustainability Hero has set the standard for sustainability—and it will be a hard act for any agency or organization to beat.
Read more about Walker’s background and his recent win in his hometown newspaper, the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Sustainability Hero Joel Walker, who also happens to lead the JSC Center Operations Directorate. Image Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz
Under Walker's leadership, seven certified green buildings have been developed and constructed at JSC. Image Credit: NASA
Walker (center) gives JSC Director Ellen Ochoa and former JSC Deputy Director Steve Altemus a tour of Building 12's vegetated roof. Image Credit: NASA/James Blair