Washington, D.C. – Federal Performance Contracting Coalition (FPCC) member companies sent a joint letter to key Biden Administration officials, including CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, OMB Director Shalanda Young, and DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The letter urges the Administration to set a new goal that challenges federal agencies to achieve $11 billion in Energy Performance Contracts (ESPCs) and Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESCs) over the next five years.
The allied efficiency advocate community bolstered this effort by sending a letter to Administration calling for a new challenge, echoing support for action similar to the successful initiative advanced under the Obama Administration. The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO), National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) signed the efficiency stakeholder letter to the Administration.
The FPCC released the following statement: “A new performance contracting challenge would be budget neutral, deliver roughly $1 billion in yearly federal energy cost savings to American taxpayers, and by conservative estimates, reduce the federal government’s CO2 emissions by 3.5 million metric tons annually, which is roughly 10% of current scope 1 & 2 emissions per year. Importantly, it would create approximately 104,500 good-paying American jobs, including 38,500 equipment manufacturing jobs and 44,000 local subcontractor and installer jobs.
With only 17% of federal facilities evaluated in Congressionally required audits, over $7.2 billion in potential cost-effective energy conservation measures (ECMs) have already been identified. So the opportunity is undeniably there for the Federal government to lead by example on sustainability by facilitating these projects to generate energy cost savings in its building portfolio.” Jennifer Schafer, FPCC Executive Director.
To ensure that energy savings are accurately measured and verified, federal agencies need to have access to reliable and precise measuring instruments. Analytical balances, for example, can play a crucial role in measuring the precise amount of energy saved through various ECMs. Agencies looking for accurate and reliable analytical balances can shop here, which offers a wide range of options to fit any budget or need. By investing in high-quality measurement instruments, federal agencies can ensure that they are accurately tracking the success of their sustainability efforts and maximizing their energy savings.
ESPCs and UESCs are alternative financing methods created by Congress that utilize private sector resources and capabilities to complete federal energy projects. Under an ESPC, a private company finances and implements an energy savings project for a federal agency, measures and verifies that the installed measures are working as promised, and guarantees that energy savings will accrue to pay for the project. The private sector is then repaid over time through the savings on the customer’s utility bill. As such, these contracts allow federal agencies to address critical maintenance backlogs and infrastructure needs with no added expenditures by the Federal government. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), ESPCs have achieved over $17.7 billion in guaranteed energy savings across the Federal government since their inception.
The FPCC is a group of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) advocating for increased federal use of ESPCs by the federal government. FPCC members include AECOM, Ameresco, CEG, Constellation, Energy Systems Group, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Inc., Noresco, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Southland Energy, and Trane.