Saving Energy in Government Facilities
The federal government is the nation’s single largest energy consumer and energy waster. In 2005, the federal government consumed about 1.6 quadrillion Btu (quads) of energy at a cost of $14.5 billion. This is 1.6% of all energy used in the U.S. American taxpayers pay about $4 billion annually just to heat, cool, and power the 500,000 federal buildings and facilities.
Efforts over the last two decades to reduce energy use in federal buildings and facilities have resulted in significant energy and cost savings. Overall, federal primary energy use decreased by 18 percent from 1985 to 2006, and in buildings, primary energy consumption decreased by eight percent. Federal building and facility energy bills decreased by 22 percent in real terms in that time period, considerably more than the 15 percent decrease in the cost of primary energy supplied to those facilities. In large part due to energy-saving efforts, federal building carbon emissions were 18 percent lower in 2005 than in 1990.
A range of policies and programs have been used to realize these savings, including most notably: energy intensity targets, alternative project financing, efficient procurement requirements, and a variety of training and technical assistance. Expanding, enhancing and fully implementing these policies and programs will help the federal government reap huge amounts of savings that still remain.
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