Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin
US Capitol facade in twilight. (Photo by Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The Federal Government is the nation’s largest energy consumer, due in part to its massive portfolio of over 350,000 buildings, encompassing over 3 billion square feet in the U.S. and around the world.
A little-known, 51-year-old federal agency called the Federal Energy Management Program, or FEMP, is tasked with helping reduce the energy and carbon footprints of all those buildings.
Anna Seifken, Dept. of Energy Energy Dept.
FEMP functions as internal consultants to about 30 federal agencies, providing expertise, strategic consulting, technical assistance and funding upon request to help the agencies manage their buildings, Anna J. Siefken, Deputy Director of FEMP detailed In an exclusive interview on Electric Ladies Podcast.
FEMP is now part of the Office of Infrastructure in the Department of Energy, one of many new “offices” the Biden Administration created.
FEMP’s vast collection of tools, trainings, and best practices are also available to the public to help reduce the carbon footprint of all buildings, and homes, too.
Since its inception in 1975, FEMP has helped reduce the federal government’s carbon footprint by 50%, according to the FEMP website.
President Biden’s Executive Order 14057 set a goal of having federal buildings be net zero by 2045, and cut 50% from 2005 levels by 2032.
It also set forth the Federal Building Performance Standard that “sets the goal of zero Scope 1 emissions, from onsite fossil fuel use, in 30% of the agencies federal buildings by fiscal year 30,” Siefken said.
The plan to achieve these goals is called the Federal Sustainability Plan, which they say is also designed to spur growth in American clean energy industries and jobs.
Here’s how FEMP works and how the public can benefit and learn from them, from our discussion:
- What does FEMP do? The FEMP website describes what they as, “FEMP works with its stakeholders to enable federal agencies to meet energy-related goals, identify affordable solutions, facilitate public-private partnerships, and provide energy leadership to the country by identifying government best practices.” The strategies need to be replicable, too.
MORE FOR YOU
Biden Vs. Trump 2024 Election Polls: Trump Leads By 6 Points—And Most Voters Think He’ll Win Debate, New Survey Finds
Samsung Confirms Highly Anticipated Galaxy Z Fold Launch Details
ISS Astronauts Take Shelter After Russian Spacecraft Breaks Up In Orbit
Screenshot of FEMP graphic of its stakeholders, energy.gov/femp
FEMP
- FEMP provides policy, planning, technical support and funding: “What we do is we work with this entire portfolio of buildings of the federal government, as you mentioned, about 350,000 buildings, also including 600,000 cars and trucks in the fleet, all of them looking towards decarbonization,” Siefken explained. “We do it through policy and planning,” analyzing energy mandates and strategizing with agencies “to identify the short and long-term opportunities and how they can sort of make the case for themselves to save money and to meet these higher goals.” They also provide technical assistance to execute, optimize and prioritize the strategies, as well as with maintenance and funding when appropriate.
- 40,000 to 50,000 hours of training per year and 63 tools on their website: ”People make all of that happen, and so the training that we do, which is somewhere around between 40 and 50,000 hours of training a year,” she said. It’s both online and in-person, including a big in-person event “where we bring thousands of federal procurement officers together, and they all learn about the same things that we would learn at a climate conference for commercial buildings or in industry,” she said. Screenshot of FEMP tools website, energy.gov/femp
energy.gov FEMP’s tools can be found by searching Federal Energy Management Tools. “I found 63 tools that are available, and it’s everything from a climate smart building initiative planning tool, to a climate action planning tool, building lifecycle cost calculators, energy
