Saving energy at the U.S. DOE

The U.S. Department of Energy isn't just supporting energy policy in the country, it's also trying to be an energy conscious consumer. The federal agency announced four contracts totaling $140 million to implement energy efficiency improvements at four of its laboratories.

The contracts with Westborough, Mass.-based Noresco, Milwaukee, Wis.'s Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) and the Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group (NYSE: CEG) are the first energy savings performance contracts from the DOE under its Transformational Energy Action Management, or TEAM initiative. The TEAM program was started up last August and aims to reduce nationwide energy use at the department by at least 30 percent and reduce water consumption by at least 16 percent, both by 2015.

The DOE also plans to get at least 7.5 percent of all of its energy from renewable sources by 2010 under the TEAM initiative.

Jennifer Scoggins, a spokeswoman for the DOE, told the Cleantech Group that the agency has already implemented energy efficiency upgrades at some of its locations.

"Our Forestall building just received the Energy Star plaque not too long ago," she said. The Forestall building is the department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Scoggins said the DOE's facility in Germantown, Md. has also received the Energy Star designation.

Energy Star is voluntary program sponsored by the DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with energy consumption for buildingsbenchmarked on a zero to 100 scale. Buildings earning a score of 75 or greater qualify for the award.

"In addition to that," said Scoggins, "approximately 75 percent of our headquarters' vehicles are alternative vehicles, to reduce reliance on gas, all of which contribute to reducing energy by 30 percent."

Under the latest contracts, Noresco will work on a project at the Idaho National Laboratory, with Johnson Controls receiving two contracts, one for efficiency upgrades at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and one for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Constellation Energy will be working on the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh.

Noresco's $33 million project will switch the power source for the boilers at the Idaho National Laboratory, reducing fuel oil purchases from 600,000 gallons per year to zero. The DOE said the project will yield annual savings of $1.7 million.

At the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, Johnson Controls has an $11 million contract to upgrade the energy management control system. The upgrade is expected to save nearly 100 billion BTUs per year, and save approximately $1.3 million annually.

Johnson Controls also has an $89 million deal for improvements at Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, including putting in a biomass steam plant and expanding the building's management system. The project will reduce energy consumption by 850 billion BTUs per year at the lab and decrease water consumption by 170 million gallons. It's also expected to save $8.7 million per year in energy costs.

In Pittsburgh, Constellation Energy is leading a $6 million project that will showcase a slew of green technologies at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. The installations will include biogas boilers, green roofs, hybrid lighting, advanced metering, solar lighting, rooftop wind turbines and natural gas well dewatering, which the DOE said will reduce energy consumption by more than 27 billion BTUs per year and reduce water use by over three million gallons. Savings at the Pittsburgh lab are estimated to come in at $800,000 per year.

The DOE has a total of 11 national laboratories, conducting research and development of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

"We also have the Entrepreneur in Residence," said Scoggins, who said the entrepreneurs "help expedite our research in clean technologies to marketplace in several of our labs."

The DOE launched that program in February, linking venture capital firms with its national laboratories (see New U.S. DOE program links VCs and researchers).

Menlo Park, California-based Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and Foundation Capital, also based in Menlo Park, is working with the lab in Oak Ridge. Chicago's ARCH Venture Partners has teamed up with Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M.

Although the contracts awarded to Noresco, Johnson Controls and Constellation Energy are valued at a total of $140 million, the DOE won't be paying any upfront costs for the energy efficiency upgrades. Instead, the agency will repay the companies' investments over time from the cost savings generated by the new equipment.

The DOE said the federal government is the largest single user of energy in the U.S. and has similar energy savings performance contracts in development that have a total proposed cost of more than $1 billion.