President Barack Obama says the federal government will reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent in the next decade — an ambitious goal that exceeds targets for the country as a whole.
As the single largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy, Obama says the government spent more than $24.5 billion on electricity and fuel in 2008 alone. He says achieving the new pollution goal would cut federal energy use by the equivalent of 205 million barrels of oil, the same as taking 17 million cars off the road for one year.
Obama's announcement Friday comes a day after the United States pledged to cut the nation's emissions of heat-trapping gases by 17 percent by 2020. The commitment to the U.N. climate body must be approved by Congress, which is not guaranteed.
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