Lab Honored With Federal Energy and Water Management Award

Robert Westby, Sustainable NREL lead, holds the Federal Energy and Water Management Award presented to the Lab for its efficient use of energy and water resources. Also pictured, from left, are Skye Schell (acting FEMP director at DOE), Kyle McSlarrow (DOE deputy secretary), and David Garman (DOE assistant secretary). Courtesy Department of Energy (DOE)

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently received a Federal Energy and Water Management Award, recognizing individuals and organizations for making significant contributions to the efficient use of energy and water resources in the federal government.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Energy — in conjunction with the Federal Interagency Energy Policy Committee ("656" Committee) — sponsors these awards. The Federal Energy and Water Management Awards are based on outstanding achievements in the following areas:

• Conservation and efficient use of energy and water
• New and emerging energy technologies
• Innovative strategies, best practices, and applications
• Renewable energy sources
• Alternative financing
• Energy-efficient mobility by the federal government

The Lab was recognized for demonstrating leadership in sustainability through the implementation of its comprehensive, laboratory-wide "Sustainable NREL" program in FY 2003.

A considerable number of projects helped NREL achieve significant results in meeting and exceeding federal sustainability mandates. For example, several energy retrofit and water conservation projects resulted in savings of almost 3.9 million Btu and 1.1 million gallons of water.

NREL purchased almost 2 million kilowatt-hours of green power, representing about 10% of the Lab's annual electricity use in FY 2003. On-site wind and PV systems generated 120 megawatt-hours of electricity to further offset utility purchases. Nearly 75% of NREL's fleet are now alternative-fuel vehicles, which reduced the fleet's petroleum use by more than 2,000 gallons, a 19% improvement from FY 2002.

Through an environmentally preferable purchasing program, 100% of office paper, carpeting, and toner cartridges purchased contained recycled content. NREL also recycled more than 230,000 pounds of office materials, a 12% increase from FY 2002.

Finally, in FY 2003, NREL designed their National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) site entrance building as a state-of-the-art, near-zero energy building, with sustainable features such as daylighting, a good thermal envelope, passive solar heating, photovoltaics, and a wind turbine.