Energy Conservation

Energy experts estimate that the federal government--the nation's largest energy consumer--could cut annual energy use in its buildings by at least 25 percent. This report focuses on how energy contractors managing sites owned by five agencies--the Departments of the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration--have achieved reductions in energy use. GAO discusses (1) energy consumption at the government-owned sites operated by contractors in the United States, (2) incentives and funding sources available for contractors to use in reducing energy consumption, and (3) contractors' energy conservation efforts and the results these efforts have achieved.

GAO found that: (1) the Air Force, Army, Navy, Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) used over 4 percent of the federal government's total annual energy consumption during fiscal year (FY) 1992; (2) total energy costs for federally-owned, contractor-operated sites exceeded $780 million during FY 1992; (3) there are energy-reduction incentives available to contractors for conservation measures, but contractors only use these incentives to a limited degree; (4) 33 contractors reported energy reductions of 1 to 5 percent and 43 contractors reported reductions greater than 6 percent between October 1989 and July 1993; (5) future energy reductions at contractor-operated sites will depend on the willingness of contractors to use corporate funding to solicit energy savings performance contracts and their willingness to pursue utility rebates where available; (6) all federal and industrial facilities are required to reduce their energy consumption by 30 percent and 20 percent, respectively, by year 2005; and (7) investments in energy efficiency improvements at federally-owned, contractor-operated sites, costing a total of $216 million, could result in annual energy cost savings of $43 million.