Dive Brief:
- Constellation NewEnergy has won an almost $120 million energy savings performance contract from the General Services Administration to implement energy conservation measures at five federally owned facilities in the Washington, D.C., area.
- The contract will facilitate deep energy retrofits through measures that include building electrification and the use of U.S.-made low-embodied-carbon materials, GSA said in a Nov. 26 news release.
- The upgrades, which will modernize aging building systems, are expected to save $2.2 million in utility costs and cut buildings’ carbon emissions by 5,734 metric tons each year, GSA noted.
Dive Insight:
Under an energy savings performance contract, the energy service company audits the federal facilities, identifies improvements that can generate energy savings, designs a project that addresses the agency’s needs and arranges the required funding, according to GSA.
The Constellation contract is part of GSA’s plan to use Inflation Reduction Act funding to reduce energy costs across its real estate portfolio by about $450 million, the agency said in the release. In June, GSA unveiled plans to harness $975 million from the IRA to upgrade federal buildings nationwide with emerging and sustainable technologies.
The five buildings the ESPC covers are a 1950s-era federal courthouse and its annex and two 1960s-era buildings housing the Federal Aviation Administration, all in Washington, as well as a GSA building in College Park, Maryland, according to GSA’s news release last week.
While the scope of work will vary by building, updates will largely include LED lighting retrofits, building controls, building envelope enhancements, utility distribution upgrades, water conservation measures and heating and cooling plant electrification, GSA said. The four Washington buildings are expected to operate exclusively on electric power after the renovations; they will be removed from GSA’s fossil-fuel-powered steam distribution system, it said. Several projects will feature energy-saving window replacements that meet GSA’s most-aggressive “Top 20%” standards for embodied carbon, according to the release.
The investments are part of the Biden administration’s Climate Smart Buildings Initiative and will support the goals outlined in President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan, such as achieving net-zero emissions from federal buildings by 2045, per the release.
In July, GSA and the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $9.6 million project to evaluate emerging and sustainable technologies for HVAC, building envelopes, on-site renewable energy and more at federal buildings as part of an expanded Green Proving Ground program.
The agency also recently updated its federal building standards to include requirements for electrification, energy efficiency, water reuse, embodied carbon reduction, grid interactivity, labor practices and construction decarbonization.
