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White House Honors Federal Agency Teams
Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham honored
four federal agency energy management teams and more than 40 federal employee
participants of those teams for their dedication, leadership, and efforts towards
promoting and improving federal energy management. These teams are responsible
for projects that will result in millions of dollars in energy cost savings.
"Federal employees are being honored for coming up with innovative ways
to save energy that will save millions of dollars this year alone," said
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. "Reducing demand on conventional
energy sources and saving precious environmental resources as a result are key
components of President Bush's National Energy Policy."
Vice President Cheney presented the awards on behalf of President George W.
Bush. The Office of management and Budget co-hosted the event at the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building of the White House. Winners at this second annual
ceremony included representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), the United States Postal Service (USPS), and two winners from the Department
of Defense ? the Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy. The Presidential Awards
for Federal Energy Management were established by Executive Order 13123 on Efficient
Energy Management.
The award-winning projects are:
? NASA's Energy Team.
A well Integrated group that formed a corporate Energy Efficiency Board to provide
an agency-level forum to guide the planning and implementation of energy efficiency
activities. The team successfully negotiated five Energy Savings Performance
Contracts and one Utility Energy Savings Contract resulting in improvements
that will save eight million gallons of water annually and will remove thousands
of PCB-using lighting ballasts. Additionally, the agency has used wind, solar,
geothermal and landfill gas energy sources in innovative and cost-effective
applications. One windmill project will recover its costs in nine years. Landfill
gas recovery will help the agency save $330,000 annually in energy costs.
? The U.S. Postal Service's Southeast Area "Stamp Out Energy
Waste" Program.
This program's goal is to have at least half of the southeast area of
the United States' Postal Service employees sign an energy conservation
pledge card within a year. The pledge card commits employees to be good stewards
by taking basic energy-conserving actions (for example, turning off lights and
computers when not in use). The Area's Energy Steering Committee produced
and implemented a Strategic Energy Management Plan that embraces many of the
tools of Executive Order 13123. The results show that the area's successful
use of these tools has saved significant amounts of both energy and financial
resources. The USPS also utilized the expertise of DOE's SAVEnergy program
and the Florida Energy Office to identify energy conservation measures yielding
cost savings of more than $18,000 per year for an investment of $106,000. The
SAVEnergy Program provides direct assistance to federal agencies in identifying
and implementing energy efficiency and water conservation measures to meet requirements
of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) and Executive Order 13123 (EO 13123).
? The U.S. Marine Corps Air Station at Iwakuni, Japan, Comprehensive
Energy Management Program.
The air station formed an Energy Conservation Planning Group chaired by the
Executive Officer of the Station, and a group of energy monitors were put into
place throughout the air station. Their accomplishments include negotiating
a new billing rate structure which resulted in savings of $1.5 million annually
in electricity charges and more than 50 billion British Thermal Unit (Btus),
which is equivalent to the amount of energy used per year in 500 typical households.
The energy team also determined a way to cycle waste steam in buildings throughout
the station in the heating season to dramatically reduce boiler loads that saves
approximately $340,000 per year in fuel costs. Nighttime inspections to identify
unneeded street and parking lot lights were performed and more than 40 unnecessary
lights were found. Discontinuing use of these lights secured savings of about
$6,000 per year in electricity costs.
? The Department of the Navy Southwest Region Regional Energy Program
Office.
This office was formed in response to spiraling electricity prices and electricity
shortages in Southern California. The demand-side management initiatives spearheaded
by the office helped the local utility avert Stage 3 alerts and regional rolling
outages. A 21.6 kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system is being constructed in partnership
with the local utility, the state of California and private sector companies.
The system will produce 39,420 kilowatt hours (kWh) annually, which is the amount
of energy one person uses in six months. More importantly, it will cut demand
by more than 20-kW during mid-afternoon when the local utility grid is struggling
with peak usage. An additional benefit of the PV system is reduced emissions,
which over its 20-year life will include 1,111,644 pounds of carbon dioxide
(CO2), 9,461 pounds of SO2, and 3,942 pounds of nitrous oxide (NOx).
The Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Energy's Federal
Energy Management Program recommended the award recipients to the President
of the United States, who made the final decision on awards.
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