Analysis of Energy Savings in the Federal Sector through Utilities Service Programs

As a result of the lack of sufficient appropriations for energy-related projects at federal sites, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Federal Energy Management Programs (FEMP) has encouraged the use of alternative financing as a method to fund energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy capital retrofit projects. One of the potential avenues for agencies to obtain alternative financing is through their servicing utility. Since the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT), more than 1,200 projects have been facilitated in this manner. The amount of the capital investment per project has varied markedly, depending on the need of the federal agency, number of facilities at a specific site, and nature of the retrofit technology. To help promote the use of this financing mechanism, FEMP created the Federal Utility Partnership Working Group to foster enhanced relationships between utilities and both federal agencies and their sites so projects could be identified, designed, financed, and constructed. Formation of this Working Group also allowed FEMP the opportunity to collect, on a voluntary basis, specific information regarding individual projects in order to document results, which could assist in determining the contribution to mandated energy saving goals. Accurate and complete data existedmore » for 528 of these projects to allow an analysis of total energy savings as a function of capital cost. Projects that consisted of the category labeled controls/upgrades/ repairs yielded the largest energy savings per capital dollar of investment (~14,500 Btu per dollar). Other projects with high energy savings per capital dollar of investment included comprehensive upgrades, central plant upgrades, boiler/chiller replacement, and lighting and mechanical system upgrades. This article summarizes the findings from the analysis, provides some insight into the types of projects that yield the best savings per dollar of investment, and possible explanation for the results.« less