Saving Money by Saving Energy
The Department of Energy has installed meters in the James Forrestal Building that will enable DOE to measure electricity use and costs in its headquarters facility.
You may explore this data further by visiting our Forrestal Metering Dashboard at the following website:
http://forrestal.nrel.gov
The Forrestal electric meters provide daily read-outs and comparison of data on electricity consumption for overhead lighting and power outlets. The purpose is to measure the electricity used by equipment that building occupants can control.
Data is collected and reported by zones throughout Forrestal’s north, south and west buildings. See the Forrestal metering zone map, below, for details on the zones.
The metering data will increase transparency of energy and building performance information and be used for benchmarking, a key energy efficiency management tool.
The DOE headquarters metering initiative also is intended to help DOE employees develop a greater sense of personal responsibility for energy conservation. The Department wants to promote energy conservation as a social norm – and create a DOE corporate culture that considers sustainability a core value.
Estimated Savings
The Forrestal electricity usage metering and awareness program has contributed to reducing user controlled electricity consumption at Forrestal by 1,000,000 KWh per year compared with pre-awareness levels, reducing the electricity bill by about $129,000, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 800 MTCO2e1.
The DOE Powerpedia page with information on the zone metering is available through this link.
1 MTCO2e is Metric Tonne (ton) of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent. This is the standard measurement of the amount of CO2 emissions that are reduced or secluded from our environment, the Federal government's standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions.
Last updated 02/03/16