Government resource information system

Sustainability is the next significant trend to confront government agencies as evidenced by the world-wide focus on energy conservation and reducing green house gases. Recent environmental laws and legislation require agencies to address conservation in very specific ways. Given this goal of sustainability, what strategies initiatives, and measures can be implemented? One answer is the adoption of a resource maturity model and implementation of a resource information system. Information and communication technology can be used to "see" resource consumption at a very detailed level. The Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-7 designated that energy and resources are part of the critical infrastructure of government which must be protected. Therefore, all resource data must be stored in a secure, central data warehouse with real-time secure interfaces to meters, sensors, utility companies and building automation systems. The resource maturity model and the resource information system together enable agencies to effectively utilize resource information to improve operational efficiencies, asset management, customer service, energy forecasting, regulatory compliance and sustainability. In addition, the secure automation of resource management becomes an important method to ensure the protection, resilience and reliability of an agency's critical infrastructure.