The Headquarters Office of Administration, Office of Logistics and Facility Operations, has several energy saving initiatives in place or in progress at their Headquarters' facilities in the Forrestal Building in Washington, DC, and Germantown Maryland.  Many of these initiatives are part of their Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC).  ESPCs allow Federal agencies to accomplish energy savings projects without up-front capital costs and without special Congressional appropriations.  DOE ESPCs help Federal agencies meet energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation, and emissions reduction goals by streamlining contract funding for energy management projects. For more information on ESPCs visit the Federal Energy Management Program's (FEMP) web page.

Note: Emission reduction estimates are measured in MTCO2e, Metric Tonnes (tons) of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent. This is the standard measurement of the amount of CO2 emissions that are reduced or secluded from our environment, the Federal government's standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions.

CURRENT ENERGY REDUCTION INITIATIVES AT DOE HEADQUARTERS

HQ LED Lighting Retrofit
Germantown 370 KW Solar Array
Forrestal Variable Air Volume HVAC Upgrade
Forrestal Central Chiller Plant Upgrade
Forrestal Canopy LED Lighting Upgrade
Forrestal Corridor Light Switching
Forrestal Solar Array
Steam Trap Replacement
Forrestal and Germantown Cool Roofs

HQ LED Lighting Retrofit
Completed in February 2017, approximately 54,000 new Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps were replaced in the Forrestal and Germantown buildings - 37,000 lamps replaced in Forrestal and 17,000 lamps replaced in Germantown.

Estimated reduction in electricity purchased per year: 2,500,000 KWh
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $270,000

Germantown Solar Array
Completed in July 2012, this photovoltaic (PV) solar array consists of 318 kilowatts of ground-mounted PV solar panels, and 52 kilowatts of carport mounted PV solar panels over some of the parking spaces. The carport installation includes Level 1 & 2 electric car charging stations, and when not used for charging cars the array provides power to the Germantown building.

Estimated reduction in electricity purchased per year: 510,000 KWh
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $57,000
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 363 MTCO2e

Forrestal Variable Air Volume HVAC Upgrade
Completed in June 2012, this initiative replace the previous Forrestal constant volume HVAC system with a Variable Air Volume System. This will operate more efficiently and improve occupant comfort.

Estimated reduction in energy per year: 21,355 MBtu of steam, chilled water and electricity
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $743,000
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 2,187 MTCO2e

Forrestal Central Chiller Plant Upgrade
Previously, the Forrestal building had many small chillers to cool computer and LAN rooms. Completed in June 2012, this project replaced these many small chillers with a centralized, much more efficient plant.

Estimated reduction in energy per year: 24,325 MBtu of chilled water and electricity
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $603,000
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 930 MTCO2e

Forrestal Canopy LED Lighting Upgrade
Completed in October 2010, replaced all 600 light fixtures under the Forrestal Canopy with LED fixtures which reduced energy requirements from 205 watts per fixture to just 23 watts each.

Estimated reduction in electricity purchased per year: 475,700 KWh
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $54,000
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 339 MTCO2e

Forrestal Corridor Light Switching
Completed in May 2010, the Forrestal corridor lights have been reconfigured to reduce hallway lighting by two-thirds on nights and weekends (no longer on 24/7.)

Estimated reduction in electricity purchased per year: 280,000 KWh
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $32,000
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 199 MTCO2e

Forrestal Solar Array
Completed in September 2008, the roof-top array consists of a 205 kilowatt main array of crystalline silicon solar panels as well as four small 1 kilowatt arrays that showcase other types of photovoltaic technology. The system generates approximately 230 megawatt hours of electricity each year, and has generated a total of over 2,000,000 kilowatt hours of electricity since being energized.  The system is 40-50 times the size of a typical residential system.

Estimated reduction in electricity purchased per year: 230,000 KWh
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $26,000
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 163 MTCO2e

Steam Trap Replacement
Completed in February 2011, repaired or replaced broken or leaking steam traps improving the energy efficiency of our steam distribution system.

Estimated reduction in energy per year: 1,820 MBtu of steam
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $77,000
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 179 MTCO2e

Forrestal and Germantown Cool Roofs
The white membrane reflects energy from the building in the summer, reducing cooling requirements.  The roof insulation was also improved to help improve the heating and cooling efficiency.
The West Building cool roof over the cafeteria was completed in December 2010, and the South Building cool roof in December, 2011.  The Germantown building roof was replaced in December 2013.

Estimated reduction in energy per year: 232 MBtu of steam and chilled water
Estimated reduction in costs per year: $7,800
Estimated reduction in emissions per year: 17 MTCO2e

MAAdm Last updated 12/18/2017 - New Format