Skip navigation to main content.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)NREL HomeInnovation for Our Energy Future
About NRELScience and TechnologyTechnology TransferApplying TechnologyLearning About Renewables

Federal Energy Management Project Assistance

NREL supports the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) by providing U.S. federal agencies with technical and project assistance, training, and deployment resources to help them meet and exceed energy and environmental targets. NREL's FEMP team has also developed innovative project financing mechanisms that federal agencies and other organizations can leverage to get energy projects off the ground.

Technical Assistance

FEMP technical assistance covers a variety of areas, including:

  • Energy Efficiency—Efficiency measures are the first step in energy management. NREL assists federal agencies in getting the most out of their energy consumption through energy modeling tools, facility screenings, and training.

  • Renewable Energy—Renewable energy plays an important role in federal energy goals and requirements. NREL helps agencies assess and deploy renewable energy from biomass, geothermal, solar, wind, and hydropower resources. Services include project planning, resource assessments, screenings, grid interconnection analysis, and energy modeling tools.

  • Greenhouse Gases—Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a priority for the federal government. Operating more than 500,000 buildings and 630,000 vehicles, the government is the nation's largest energy consumer and greenhouse gas emitter. NREL leverages a variety of deployment tools and models to conduct assessments that help agencies inventory and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through climate-neutral action planning, boundary assessments, and mitigation strategies.

  • Sustainable Building Design and Operations—Applying sustainable design, operations, and maintenance practices to federal facilities reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring life-cycle cost effectiveness of products and materials. NREL conducts facility assessments, commissioning assistance, and life-cycle costing.

Financing Mechanisms

To assist government agencies with energy project development, the NREL FEMP team has developed a variety of innovative financing mechanisms, detailed on the DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Web site:

  • Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs)—ESPCs allow federal agencies to form partnerships with energy service companies (ESCOs) to avoid the up-front capital costs and special Congressional appropriations typically required for energy savings projects. For information about how NREL can assist with ESPCs, contact Douglas Dahle.

  • Utility Energy Services Contracts (UESCs)—UESCs enable agencies to partner with their franchised or serving utilities to finance energy improvements. For information about how NREL can assist with UESCs, contact Karen Thomas.

  • Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)—PPAs enable private financing of renewable projects. This allows developers to benefit from tax incentives and accelerated depreciation while allowing federal agencies to reduce their exposure to risk and secure long-term electricity pricing. NREL can support agencies interested in exploring this option with:

    • Renewable screening and assessments to determine cost effectiveness and project viability
    • Project facilitation, including market research, requests for information, requests for proposals, and opportunity notices
    • Assistance with land use agreements and similar requirements
    • Bid evaluations.

    For more information about how NREL can assist with PPAs, contact Chandra Shah.

FEMP Projects

Because of federal funding structures and the need to comply with multiple regulatory and executive order requirements, federal facilities and vehicle fleets face a unique set of challenges in realizing their goal of leading the nation toward a sustainable energy future. Our FEMP work provides a model for other energy initiatives. This work includes supporting the Labs for the 21st Century (Labs21) program and federal fleets.

  • Labs21—FEMP's Labs21 approach tackles energy consumption at government, academic, and private sector laboratories from a holistic perspective rather than focusing on building components. This is in keeping with NREL's portfolio approach to improving energy performance through integrated technology application.Our systems approach to assisting Labs21 member laboratories has proven highly effective in increasing energy efficiency, as demonstrated in Labs21 case studies.

    NREL is a founding member of Labs21, which is a joint venture of DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

  • Federal Fleet Project—The vehicles owned and operated by the U.S. government represent a significant fraction of its energy use. Federal agencies are required to reduce petroleum consumption by 2% per year through fiscal year 2015 relative to the fiscal year 2005 baseline. They are also required to increase alternative fuel use by 10% per year relative to the previous year. An executive order issued October 5, 2009, requires new actions by federal fleets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To help fleets meet their requirements, NREL provides federal agencies with a range of analysis, training, information, and technical assistance. Tools developed by NREL to help federal fleets maximize their use of alternative fuels and compare strategies for reducing fuel use include:

More Information

Explore the NREL-developed tools and models the FEMP team uses to conduct technical assessments that identify opportunities to improve energy performance. For more information about energy options and projects for U.S. federal agencies, see the DOE FEMP Web site.

Contact

To learn more about NREL's FEMP work, contact Robert Westby.