CBS Newsletter
Spring 1995
pg. 1
FEMP at LBL
DOE's Federal Energy Management Program is "operations central" for coordinating the federal effort to reduce its own energy use. FEMP plans to use 30% less energy by 2005 then it used in 1985 and conserve water as well. Director Mark Ginsberg has transformed FEMP into a visible resource for federal energy reduction efforts. It helps agencies implement effective programs of their own by creating partnerships, leveraging resources, transferring technology, and providing training and support.
These photorealistic RADIANCE simulations of a retrofitted Old Executive
Office Building workspace (daytime above and nighttime below) are part of
LBL's efforts in the FEMP-supported Greening of the White House project.
Lab Support Role
FEMP relies on three national labs--LBL, PNL, and NREL--to provide
strong technical support, such as expertise in energy technologies; protocols,
tools, and guidelines necessary for the program's information base; and
effective dissemination programs. The labs also play direct field-support roles
by coordinating demonstration projects. FEMP sought LBL's expertise in
advanced building technologies, analysis capabilities, and the newly formed
Applications Team. FEMP's needs were taken into account in developing the A-Team, making the program the "founding
client."
Support Activities
LBL's support activities fall into two categories: (1) for the FEMP knowledge
base, developing an "infrastructure" of underlying methods, protocols,
guidelines, techniques, models, and the means for their dissemination; and (2)
designing, coordinating, and managing demonstration projects to motivate the
widespread adoption of FEMP's concepts for saving energy. These are
implemented in four program areas:
-
Energy-efficient Procurement
- Jeff Harris and others in E&E's Washington Project Office have been identifying "off-the-shelf," cost-effective, energy-efficient products to encourage their purchase through standard or innovative procurement channels. They are also developing strategies to use large-volume federal purchasing to acccelerate the commercialization of more advanced "state-of-the-shelf" technologies. One of the effort's major accomplishments was implementing the Federal Procurement Challenge, a voluntary, governmentwide commitment inaugurated by a White House ceremony.
-
Design Assistance
- FEMP is working to remove a major stumbling block for facility managers--not knowing how to define and design a project successfully--by providing design assistance. E&E's Rick Diamond is coordinating LBL's effort to develop information guidelines on specific subjects (e.g., window films) that discuss the issues, pitfalls, recommended courses of action, product vendors, and additional sources of information. Another design assistance project is to evaluate existing energy resource centers, established by utilities to support customers in DSM programs, to determine what is most useful to the federal sector.
-
Advanced Technology Demonstrations
- These include performance measurement and accelerate acceptance by the federal community. LBL's Francis Rubinstein and Steve Selkowitz are helping design and implement lighting and windows technology demonstrations.
-
Measurement and Verification
- Energy Savings Performance Contracts with third parties are an important way of providing necessary capital for facility retrofits. Energy service companies make their profits from a share of the energy and cost savings streams. Recent work by Steve Kromer in the Energy & Environment Division's Washington D.C. office, and now Brad Gustafson, is establishing for those contracts a sound financial basis for both parties through measurement and verification protocols that reliably measure pre- and post-retrofit performance.
Projects, Projects, Projects
Highly visible success stories are a major FEMP strategy, and LBL, with
significant involvement of its A-Team, is working on the following:
-
Presidio
- The transition of the Presidio of San Francisco from the U.S. Army to the National Park Service provides a major opportunity to design and implement a comprehensive energy performance upgrade, in keeping with the NPS's intention to develop the Presidio into a community of tenants and activities supporting sustainable development. Last October, during the transition ceremonies, DOE and NPS signed an agreement giving FEMP responsibility for providing technical support.
- The A-Team's Dale Sartor spent a year on assignment at the Presidio, where
he developed a comprehensive energy plan for the site and negotiated a major
DSM contract with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to provide funding for the
energy overhaul and a role for LBL in coordinating the effort. Early efforts
involve site energy audits and the design and implementation of a measurement and verification data backbone. The first retrofit projects will include buildings housing the Gorbachev Foundation and the Tides Foundation, along with parts of the Letterman medical research complex. They will also demonstrate how such projects can be financed through Energy Savings Performance Contracts.
-
Greening of the White House
- LBL was part of an audit and design strategy team tasked with retrofitting the White House and adjacent Old Executive Office Building. Specialized audits of lighting and windows and design recommendations followed, based in part on analysis performed with the Radiance model
(also).
FEMP's efforts have already reduced federal energy costs by half a billion
dollars in two years, and these numbers can be improved substantially.
California's large federal presence and progressive utilities make the state a
major FEMP regional target, and LBL expects to play a large role in helping
FEMP meet its goals.
--William Carroll
Mark Ginsberg, Director
Federal Energy Management Program
U.S. Department of Energy 5E-080
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, D.C. 20585
(202) 586-5772
EETD Newsletter Home Page
CBS Newsletter Home Page
Table of Contents for this Issue