“Keeping America competitive requires renewable and affordable energy, and our federal agencies must lead the way for energy conservation and research. Your efforts strengthen our country and ensure that America will continue to lead the world in innovation for decades to come,” President George W. Bush said, congratulating the honorees.

The Presidential Awards for Leadership in Federal Energy Management support President Bush’s aggressive goals for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in the federal government.  Both Executive Order 13423 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) call on the Federal government to reduce its energy intensity by two percent and three percent per year, respectively, through the end of 2015.  The President’s Executive Order requires that at least half of the federal government’s renewable energy come from new renewable sources, and EPAct requires that the federal government purchase at least 7.5 percent of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2013.

Awardees were selected from nominations submitted to the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program, which resides within in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.  Nominations were provided to the Office of Management and Budget’s Deputy Director for Management who reviewed the nominations and recommended the award recipients to the President.  Recognized today at the eighth annual ceremony were energy teams from the U.S. Air Force, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Prisons, Department of Homeland Security, and a joint team of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.

The five winning teams of the 2007 Presidential Awards for Leadership in Federal Energy Management received recognition for the following achievements:

U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force Energy Management Senior Focus Group
By providing top level leadership to the Air Force’s Facility and Mobility Energy Programs, the Air Force Energy Strategy Senior Focus Group (SFG) instituted a culture where energy usage and sustainable practices are considered in every decision.  The SFG’s comprehensive approach to energy management saved the Air Force $100 million and more than 3.3 trillion Btus in Fiscal Year (FY) 2006—enough savings to power the household energy needs of a city such as Boulder, Colorado for a year.  Also in FY 2006, the Air Force remained the largest green power purchaser in the federal government with more than 990 gigawatt hours of renewable-generated electricity.

U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, Laboratories for the 21st Century
Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21) is a voluntary partnership dedicated to improving the energy and environmental performance of laboratories, which are five to ten times more energy intensive than office buildings.  Labs21 public-private partnerships are comprised of approximately 80 facilities—more than half of which are federal.  With the help of Labs21, 18 active partners reduced their combined annual energy use by 533 billion Btus, equivalent to the average annual electricity use of more than 14,500 typical U.S. households.  The partners also avoided emissions of nearly 218 million pounds of carbon dioxide—the equivalent of removing nearly 21,000 cars from the road.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Energy Management Committee
Under the leadership of its Energy Management Committee (EMC), DHS institutionalized stewardship of energy resources and taxpayer dollars into its standard practices and procedures for nine major components.  The EMC published a comprehensive “Master Energy Plan 2006-2015,” which established specific direction and goals for the Department’s facility energy management activities and tracks the performance of DHS component agencies by measuring five major factors quarterly.  The strategies and guidelines instituted by DHS resulted in an 18 percent decrease in energy intensity in 2006 from 2003 levels.

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Energy Efficiency Team
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) comprises numerous small facilities with individually low dollar values of energy consumption scattered in remote areas of the country.  BLM, in partnership with the Department of Energy and Johnson Controls, Inc., created an innovative new approach to streamline and tailor the Energy Savings Performance Contracts process to meet its needs—one that can be applied by other federal agencies with small, remote facilities.  As a result, 105 sites are receiving $4.9 million of energy efficiency improvements with guaranteed annual savings of nearly $400,000 and annual energy savings of 20 billion Btus, the energy equivalent of 285 typical households in the region.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons initiated an energy outreach program where energy program staff collaborates with community leaders and businesses to spread knowledge about federal efforts in energy conservation, renewable energy, and sustainable practices. At the Federal Correctional Complex in Victorville, CA, the Bureau of Prisons invested $3.5 million to install DOJ’s first wind turbine and photovoltaic array, saving $350,000 in annual energy costs and almost 1.9 million kilowatt hours annually.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons is replicating this success with Energy Savings Performance Contracts and Utility Energy Service Contracting, with plans to cover 98 remaining institutions within six years.