President wants federal workers to drive less

President wants federal workers to drive less

President Obama wants federal workers to cut down on business travel and commuting by car as part of his administrations effort to reduce heat-trapping emissions produced by the federal government.

The move is part of an announced goal of reducing government generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from indirect sources like employee driving by 13 percent in 2020, compared with 2008 levels.

Earlier this year the president directed agencies to reduce pollution from direct sources, such as buildings and government fleets, by 28 percent in the next decade.

The federal government is the largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy, and the combined reductions would be the equivalent of removing emissions from 235 million barrels of oil, the White House said.

Federal employee travel and commuting accounts for the biggest category of what the White House calls indirect sources of pollution and it believes that encouraging employees to travel less for business and to use mass transit for their commutes will go a long way toward reducing that pollution.