FEMP Year in Review 2003 - EERE - U.S. Department of Energy

The Business Case for Sustainable Design in Federal Facilities Resource
and Summary documents were published. The reports illustrate
many innovative ways that federal agencies are using sustainable
design principles to extract greater efficiencies from our public
buildings and the tax dollars that pay for them. They also provide
significant financial evidence from research findings and case
studies that sustainable design is a smart business choice. The
TA team followed up on work begun for The Business Case by
determining that there is not enough measured or well-documented
data on the performance of sustainable buildings. A workshop
on metrics was held in November, which concluded that it is
imperative to identify and select a short list of indicators of
performance and to encourage a standard format to document
the impact of sustainable design.
The Interagency Sustainability Working Group, comprised of
representatives of federal agencies and chaired by FEMP, assisted in
the development of The Business Case for Sustainable Design, as well
as the Office of the Environmental Executive report, The Federal
Commitment to Green Building: Experiences and Expectations.
Dedication to sustainability is reflected by an increase in
membership by 50 percent in FY 2003 to over 150 members.
Additionally, through a joint effort initiated by FEMP, the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
every Veterans Administration Hospital in the U.S. was benchmarked
in FY 2003 for energy performance and indoor air quality.
The ENERGY STAR ® Award was given to 18 VA Medical Centers
in recognition of their achievements.
The 29 Palms Marine Corps
base installed the largest
co-generation plant in the
United States in an effort to
combat the California energy
crisis. The 7 MW combined
heat and power (CHP) plant
can provide uninterrupted power
for critical base loads in the
event of any utility interruption.
The plant can also isolate
critical loads, even when power
from the utility is available.
The project was financed
through an energy savings
performance contract and will
reduce electricity purchases by
nearly two-thirds, saving
$5.8 million in annual
energy costs.
Mark Duszynski of Johnson
Controls and Arun Jhaveri of the
Department of Energy join
Colonel James Nichols and Lt.
Commander Robert Tye for the
Twentynine Palms cogeneration
plant opening ceremony.
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