EERE Success Story—Missouri Makes Critical Advances in Energy Efficiency at State Facilities

With support from the Energy Department’s State Energy Program (SEP), Missouri has made significant progress in reducing energy consumption at its state facilities.

A 2012 SEP Competitive Award helped Missouri achieve the energy efficiency goal set forth in Executive Order 09-18. The Executive Order mandated energy savings of two (2) percent per year for 10 years at state facilities managed by Missouri’s Office of Administration (OA), Division of Facilities Management Design & Construction (FMDC). The Missouri Department of Economic Development Division of Energy (DED-DE) invested its SEP Competitive Award funds to team up with OA to reach this goal.

First, DED-DE focused on training state facility managers and building operators. More than 250 state facility managers completed Building Operator Certification® (BOC) training, giving them the tools to increase energy savings at their facilities. BOC, a training and certification program that utilizes both classroom and applied educational methods, teaches building engineers and maintenance personnel how to achieve peak performance in their buildings. DED-DE coordinated other specialized energy training on such topics as design and operation of HVAC systems, building automation systems, thermography, energy codes, commission, energy savings performance contracts, and measurement and verification. 

One of the trainings provided was on energy auditing, which spurred the initiation of a pilot program to perform whole-building energy audits. The first audit of a state office building resulted in an upgrade of the lighting system to LED and retro-commissioning of the building.

Parallel to Missouri’s efforts to train state facility managers and building operators, staff created and implemented an employee awareness campaign explaining the link between workplace routines and energy consumption. DED-DE did outreach to workers at state buildings and created resources to help employees save energy at work and at home.

As a result of these efforts, state facility energy consumption had declined more than 27% from a 2008 baseline by the end of 2015, an annual reduction of 3.93% and nearly twice the mandate of the executive order. 

Missouri is committed to continuing to reduce energy consumption in its state facilities. DED-DE commissioned studies regarding combined heat and power and thermal energy metering within Missouri’s Capitol Complex district energy system, and is enjoying a more collaborative relationship with FMDC. The FM/DC Energy Management supervisor noted that work completed under the SEP Competitive award “enhanced the working relationship between our agencies, and the breadth of training our staff received under the grant will assist us in achieving energy goals in the future.”

SEP provides funding and technical assistance to states, territories, and the District of Columbia to enhance energy security, advance state-led energy initiatives, and maximize the benefits of decreasing energy waste. SEP emphasizes the state’s role as the decision-maker and administrator for program activities tailored to their unique resources, delivery capacity, and energy goals.