The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s $13 million in funding for projects designed to reduce emissions and energy costs at 17 federal facilities is “leading by example,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in a Dec. 1 press release.
The improvements are projected to lower electric and water utility bills by more than $30 million a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the facilities by more than 200,000 metric tons a year, the release said.
“By outfitting federal buildings with technologies to reduce water and energy consumption and shrink carbon emissions, the federal government is leading by example and saving taxpayers money by lowering energy bills,” Secretary Granholm said in the release. “The investments of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Build Back Better Agenda will supercharge the deployment of these technologies and grasp a substantial opportunity to strengthen America’s economic, energy, and environmental security while fighting climate change.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm
| energy.gov/
Granholm visited the New Carrollton Federal Building in New Carrollton, Maryland, a building the press release called “an innovative example of building sustainability” that serves as “a model of energy efficiency for federal buildings across the country.”
The building includes an entirely renovated lighting system including 2,000 occupancy sensors, an HVAC system that heats and cools based on occupancy levels and a heat recovery system on the roof that gathers energy from the building’s exhaust, a video transcript of ‘FEMP Training Success Story: GSA New Carrollton Federal Building, Lanham, MD’ said.
Funding for the projects will come from the Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies 2021 Federal Agency Call, a program managed by DOE's Federal Energy Management Program, the release said.
The U.S. government is the nation's single largest energy consumer, the release said. President Biden‘s goal of achieving a net-zero emission economy relies heavily on improvements to federal property.
The federal facilities include in the project list the General Services Administration in Atlanta and the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island in Washington, according to the release. A full list and description of the projects is available at the DOE's website, energy.gov.
