Award-Winning Federal Energy and Water Management Champions Share Experience and Insights at Lessons-Learned Forum

The federal government, as the nation's single largest energy consumer, plays a crucial role in responsible resource stewardship. Achieving significant energy and water savings requires dedicated individuals and effective strategies. 

Before the Federal Energy and Water Management Awards (FEWMA) ceremony on August 7, 2025, awardees convened at the National Academy of Sciences for the Award Winning Champions Shared Lessons Learned Forum. FEMP Federal Engagement Supervisor Creshona Armwood kicked off a five-part panel discussion highlighting key best practices and replicable solutions for federal agencies. 

"Great success in this field requires knowledge, skills, abilities, innovation, and resourcefulness," Armwood said, acknowledging the extraordinary results the panelists delivered despite the challenges they faced. "What sets today's speakers apart is that they have found replicable pathways to success, and they are here to share."

Throughout the event, several high-level themes emerged, connecting the dots between the lessons the award-winning speakers shared during their sessions. Given these awardees' mission-critical work stewarding federal resources and advancing agency missions, other federal employees and agencies stand to benefit from these overarching lessons.

Lesson 1: Secure Diverse Funding and Build Strong Teams

A recurring theme from the awardees was the challenge of limited funding. 

Keith Benson, director of energy at Navy Shore Type-Command, Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC), highlighted the strategic importance of leveraging federal, state, and private partnerships, alongside creative acquisition methods. He cited examples like reinvesting energy cost savings back into installations through existing authorities. 

Benson also stressed the need for a comprehensive approach that extends beyond immediate facility boundaries, fostering collaboration with external partners like utility providers. 

Programs within the energy space are consistently under-resourced, Benson said. "There is never enough funding to get to the end state. There's a common vision. There's a common set of goals. And then the challenge sometimes is how do you get the resourcing to align…to ensure mission success?"

Among the examples he cited were a cooperative research and development agreement between CNIC and the Naval Postgraduate School and utilizing some of the authorities under 10 U.S.C. 2912, a statute that allows the U.S. Department of Defense to reinvest energy cost savings, including those achieved through energy savings contracts. 

"Through the hard work of energy managers and utility managers and base commanding officers and public works officers, we’re reinvesting those dollars back into those installations across each of the regions for the benefit of the Navy and the Department of Defense and our national security," said Benson, with a nod to the importance of putting together highly effective teams.  

"Everybody brings value to the table in certain ways," Benson said, highlighting CNIC's partnerships with his copresenter Guy Warner's company, Pareto Energy, and utility provider Southern California Edison. "When we talk about energy and resilience, sometimes we only focus inside of the grid or inside the installation. And I would argue we need to have a whole-of-project approach—inside and outside the fence line."

Lesson 2: Cultivate Widespread Buy-In

While tools, partnerships, and teams are essential for projects execution, getting initiatives off the ground—and maintaining momentum—requires buy-in. For several panelists, securing buy-in was a process of overcoming multiple hurdles, including resistance to change. 

Career Exceptional Service awardee Erin Hope of Bonneville Power Administration shared his experience with skepticism toward new technologies. "Part of resiliency is reliability," Hope said. "I've found over the years that one of the biggest challenges is convincing people to change…to adopt a new technology that might be more efficient and consider it just as reliable." His lesson was to persistently "prove the technology" despite initial doubts.

Panelists Gary Jackson and Craig Frank recounted overcoming the hesitancy of senior leadership in the early stages of their Energy Security and Resiliency Infrastructure project at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point. 

"Selling senior leadership is obviously one of the first major tasks," said Jackson. "So, I would recommend you bring the comptroller on board very early in the process to make sure they understand the financing, where the money is going to come from, and how it's—theoretically, and we know it doesn’t happen completely—a net zero cost to the base."

As pivotal as allaying concerns around the MCAS Cherry Point project's cost and duration was providing assurance the base was getting right the energy conservation measures from the utility or energy services companies.

"When a utility or ESCO comes in, a lot of times they're looking for what’s going to be quick and easy," said Frank. "Getting the ECMs to be what the base needed was really critical, as opposed to what was going to pan out best for the ESCO and the utility."

During the Q&A that followed, the audience asked for pointers on getting leadership committed to a project. Frank said demonstrating that projects align with resilience goals was key at MCAS Cherry Point because readiness is central to the Marine Corps mission. 

In remarks made during an audience Q&A session, Captain Ken Curtain, commanding officer of Naval Submarine Base New London, captured the essence of securing leadership buy-in: "If you want to get me on board, sell me on the mission impact, but not just that. Tell me the risks of not doing it. And then show me how what you want to do is going to mitigate or eliminate those risks so I can continue to execute the mission."

Shetland's team "did our due diligence to document the things that were required for continuous operations, and to put in place competent, capable employees who had some cross-training and overlap with us before we left," he said.

For Erin Hope, building institutional knowledge is a continuous process. He said he makes it a priority to train interns and junior staff, ensuring they have opportunities to work with senior engineers. "I give them the chance to work with senior engineers. I also give the senior engineers a chance to spend the time to teach them," he said. "I make it a priority to say, 'I want 10% of your time cross-training these junior staff. Teach them what you know.'"