Summary

By 1995, the Federal Energy Management Improvement Act requires that all federal agencies, including the General Services Administration (GSA), cut their energy usage 10 percent from 1985 levels. GAO testified that while it is too soon to know whether GSA will achieve the required 10-percent reduction by 1995, the agency appears to be making a concerted effort to cut energy consumption. Two main obstacles confront GSA's energy-saving efforts. First, GSA has already completed many of the most obvious and cost-effective energy-saving measures, and the energy-saving opportunities remaining are generally more expensive and will yield lower savings. Second, changes in building and tenant operations, such as increased use of personal computers and flexible work schedules, have increased agency energy demands. GAO also testified that funding and budgetary limitations impede needed capital investment in new and existing buildings, so that energy-saving investments are now competing with other pressing building needs.