energy efficiency | The Contracting Education Academy

August 8, 2017 By AMK

Energy Department thinking green when tackling federal real property improvements

Federal real property is getting greener, one lighting fixture, window treatment and HVAC system at a time.

The Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program [FEMP] recently awarded 21 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts to energy service companies [ESCOs] to help the government increase energy savings and lower operating costs.

“The core scope of work that these contracts cover are energy efficiency improvements, the types of things that we can do in these contracts are quite wide and varied,” said Timothy Unruh, deputy assistant secretary of renewable power within the department’s energy efficiency office. “They can include efficiency improvements that may be a boiler plant improvement, a chiller plant improvement. It can include equipment to the air-moving equipment within the building, it can have changes in lighting, the building’s electronic control system can also be updated. The building envelope: windows, doors, installations and so forth, can also be included in these contacts.”

The contracts also include renewable energy sources for combined heat and power, such as solar panel installations, or wind-farm installations.

Federal real property is getting greener, one lighting fixture, window treatment and HVAC system at a time. The Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program [FEMP] recently awarded 21 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts to energy service companies [ESCOs] to help the government increase energy savings and lower operating costs. “The core scope of work that these contracts cover are energy efficiency improvements, the types of things that we can do in these contracts are quite wide and varied,” said Timothy Unruh, deputy assistant secretary of renewable power within the department’s energy efficiency office. “They can include efficiency improvements that may be a boiler plant improvement, a chiller plant improvement. It can include equipment to the air-moving equipment within the building, it can have changes in lighting, the building’s electronic control system can also be updated. The building envelope: windows, doors, installations and so forth, can also be included in these contacts.” The contracts also include renewable energy sources for combined heat and power, such as solar panel installations, or wind-farm installations.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/green-buildings/2017/07/energy-department-thinking-green-when-tackling-federal-real-property-improvements/

May 26, 2016 By AMK

U.S. Energy Secretary’s visit highlights Georgia Tech’s energy collaborations

During U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz visit to the Georgia Institute of Technology, he delivered the keynote address for the second installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review.

Georgia Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson, left, and Executive Vice President for Research Steve Cross, right, host U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz at Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute on May 24, 2016. — Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, left, and Executive Vice President for Research Steve Cross, right, host U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute on May 24, 2016.

Moniz also toured the Southern Company’s Energy Innovation Center at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute in Atlanta’s Tech Square and the Carbon Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory on the Georgia Tech campus.

In his opening address, Moniz said Georgia Tech has the opportunity to play a key role as a center of innovation in developing regional energy solutions. He described a new DOE initiative to establish regional innovation partnerships.

Moniz said different regions have different needs, opportunities and resources, including natural, human and institutional resources. He added that Georgia Tech could serve as an institutional resource for the Southeast.

“We think that is good policy because those portfolios will take on different characters in different parts of the country,” he said.

The Carbon Neutral Energy Solutions (CNES) Laboratory is designed to foster industry collaboration and support translational and pre-commercial research in clean, low carbon energy technologies. Research spans all aspects of the energy cycle from production and generation to distribution and use, and is focused on addressing the most pressing energy and environmental challenges. Core research conducted within the lab includes solar technologies, combustion, gasification, catalysis and bio-catalysis, as well as carbon capture and sequestration.

During a tour of the Carbon Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz receives a demonstration of a new design for a compact heat exchanger for supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle funded by the Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy University Program. Developer of the technology, Devesh Ranjan, associate professor of fluid mechanics in the School of Mechanical Engineering, explains the heat exchanger as Tim Lieuwen, Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech, looks on. — During a tour of the Carbon Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz receives a demonstration of a new design for a compact heat exchanger for supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle funded by the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program. Developer of the technology, Devesh Ranjan, associate professor of fluid mechanics in the School of Mechanical Engineering, explains the heat exchanger as Tim Lieuwen, Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech, looks on.

“We’re honored to have Secretary Moniz back on the Georgia Tech campus, and it was especially meaningful to have him see one of our showcase facilities,” said Tim Lieuwen, executive director of the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute. “We have a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with the Department of Energy as we work together to find clean, reliable, affordable and sustainable sources of energy.”

Lieuwen hosted the secretary for a tour of the CNES Lab, which has LEED Platinum status and was funded in part by Recovery Act funding through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST.)

The Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech was established to serve as a conduit for integrating, facilitating, and enabling Institute-wide programs in energy research and development.

Moniz also spent time with Georgia Tech partner, the Southern Company. Southern Company has worked with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute on a number of research initiatives, including a promising 2005-2007 study on wind. DOE is a longtime supporter of and partner in Southern Company’s efforts to invent America’s energy future through robust, proprietary research and development (R&D).

Through the Energy Innovation Center, Southern Company is extending its R&D commitment by identifying better, more reliable and more efficient ways to increase value for customers through products and services. Many of the ideas being tested in the center come from the Southern Company system’s more than 26,000 employees, while others are surfaced through partnerships with leading universities, research organizations and like-minded companies such as Nest and Tesla.

Michael Britt, left, Vice President of Southern Company's Energy Innovation Center, demonstrates new technology being developed to U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. — **Michael Britt, left, Vice President of Southern Company’s Energy Innovation Center, demonstrates new technology being developed to U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz.**

“Southern Company’s decades-long partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy has produced cutting-edge technologies that are reshaping electricity generation in America,” said Southern Company Energy Innovation Center Vice President Michael E. Britt. “Through the Energy Innovation Center at Tech Square and our partnership with Georgia Tech, Southern Company is expanding on its longstanding commitment to finding real energy solutions in coordination with like-minded leaders in R&D – from established corporations to fast-growing startups.”

In addition to the work taking place at the Energy Innovation Center, Southern Company operates DOE’s National Carbon Capture Center in Alabama and has received DOE support for the development of the world’s most advanced coal plant in Mississippi and two of the first new carbon-free nuclear units in a generation of Americans in Georgia.

Moniz also took the opportunity during his remarks to recognize leaders at Georgia Tech such as former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, namesake and distinguished professor in Georgia Tech’s Nunn School of International Affairs, and Provost Rafael Bras for their roles in advising federal energy and national security policy makers.

“We get lots of advice from Georgia Tech and we appreciate it,” Moniz said.

June 10, 2014 By AMK

USPS losing millions to fuel-guzzling contractors

The Postal Service incurred millions in unnecessary fuel costs from its contractors because it isn’t using industry averages for fuel consumption and has no procedures in place to ensure contractors are using fuel efficient vehicles, a May 27 USPS inspector general report says.

USPS contracts for transportation on over 15,000 highway contract routes by identifying miles to be driven and negotiating a base operating rate per mile, the report says.

Fuel is a major component of HCR total costs. The Postal Service negotiates annual fuel allotments based on miles per gallon, considering past suppliers’ MPG contracts and general vehicle and route type, the report says.

In fiscal 2012, HCRs used over 242 million gallons of fuel, costing USPS almost a billion dollars.

Keep reading this story at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/usps-losing-millions-fuel-guzzling-contractors/2014-06-05

February 3, 2014 By AMK

Departing PBS chief intends to write about government inefficiencies

Sixteen months after being named to the post, Dorothy Robyn is leaving as head of the Public Buildings Service for the General Services Administration, a job in which she inked a deal with Donald Trump for a luxury hotel and led the search for a new FBI headquarters.

Her replacement is expected to be Norman Dong, who has been serving as acting controller at the Office of Management and Budget, Robyn said.

Robyn came from the Defense Department in September of 2012 to help right the ship after a scandal over convention-related expenses brought down the GSA’s previous leadership. She oversaw public buildings during a time of tightening budgets, prompting her to press agencies to occupy less space and forgo real estate that they did not need.

She and GSA administrator Dan Tangherlini teamed to take better advantage of under-performing government buildings, completing a deal to lease the Old Post Office Pavilion to Trump’s real estate firm and selling the West Heating Plant in Georgetown to a developer affiliated with the Four Seasons.

In an interview she said she was frustrated at the resistance of Congress to invest in cost-saving infrastructure improvements, as well as the accounting policies “ that make it difficult for us to follow best practices in the private sector.”

Rather than take a new job immediately ,Robyn said she would take time off to write about some of the government inefficiencies that she said were strangling the country’s infrastructure improvements and failing to reduce energy usage.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-business/wp/2014/01/29/dorothy-robyn-head-of-public-buildings-for-gsa-steps-down

August 31, 2012 By AMK

White House to agencies: Cut wasteful IT spending, then reinvest in smarter tech

The Obama administration is requiring all agencies to propose budget cuts to reduce information technology spending by 10 percent, according to a guidance released by the Office of Management and Budget.

The cuts would come in fiscal 2014, and be calculated based on the average IT spending in fiscals 2010 through 2012. The White House wants the cuts to focus on imprudent IT expenditures.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2012/08/white-house-agencies-cut-wasteful-it-spending-then-reinvest-smarter-tech/57564/?oref=govexec_today_nl.

Federal real property is getting greener, one lighting fixture, window treatment and HVAC system at a time.

During U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz visit to the Georgia Institute of Technology, he delivered the keynote address for the second installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review.

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