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Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

The overall success of EPA’s energy conservation program depends in part on how well EPA facilities are kept informed about the benefits, opportunities, and successes of energy-related activities. To facilitate this communication, EPA has established several communication techniques, including educational outreach resources, site visits to identify energy-savings opportunities, energy consumption tracking, cost reporting, training, and information available through EPA’s intranet and the Internet.

Educational Outreach Resources

Posters

An excellent means of conveying a wide variety of information in a concise, easy-to-understand manner is through awareness posters. This year a series of energy awareness posters was developed to highlight energy consumption, illustrate the benefits of installing energy-efficient HVAC systems, explain how innovative HVAC technologies work, describe energy savings performance contracts, and show pollution prevention trends at EPA facilities. These posters were displayed at the annual Buildings and Facilities conference, and were found to be so useful that EPA’s Headquarters in Washington, DC and its Region VIII office in Denver, CO, requested copies to display.

"You Have the Power" Campaign

Through this DOE-sponsored campaign, initiated to increase the level of energy conservation awareness throughout the federal government, EPA identified and awarded seven EPA employees for being energy champions. Criteria for selection was based on an individual’s effort and success of striving to conserve energy through building design and operation, real estate transactions, and overall promotion of energy conservation awareness. Several promotional materials were developed for the campaign, including energy champion posters that highlighted the selected EPA individuals and the specific work that awarded them with their recognition; "Hometown Hero" newspaper articles describing the efforts that awarded the energy champions with their recognition; a large banner reading "You Have the Power," displayed at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC, for a month beginning on Earth Day, April 1997; and an industry partnership advertisement to be issued upon award of the NVFEL ESPC. For more information, visit the "You Have The Power" Campaign website.

Newsletter

EPA continues to produce and distribute its quarterly newsletter, Conservation News, as a means to educate a broad Agency audience about energy conservation and pollution prevention. The newsletter serves as the key mechanism for information transfer between EPA Headquarters, the facilities, and the public on topics including energy and water conservation activities, innovative technologies, facility highlights, financing mechanisms, pollution prevention opportunities, program progress, regulatory changes, upcoming events, and training opportunities. These articles provide facility managers with the basis to implement a campaign to conserve energy and at the same time inform the general public about Agency-specific conservation activities. Some of the energy-related articles that were published in FY97 featured:

Homepage

The expanded use of the Internet offers EPA access to limitless opportunities to inform facilities, staff, and other interested parties of its energy conservation and pollution prevention efforts. EPA has established a strong Internet presence through the continued development of its website. The Office of Administration contributes to EPA’s Internet presence through its own website, located at http://www.epa.gov/oaintrnt. OA’s website provides instant access to the latest edition of the Conservation News and other noteworthy information relating to EPA’s energy conservation efforts.

Conservation Information Clearinghouse and Hotline

FMSD established the Clearinghouse and Hotline to serve as a focal point for collecting and disseminating information about energy and water conservation. The Clearinghouse also maintains a library of information, available to engineers, architects, and others, on such topics as energy conservation, energy-efficient technologies, CFC management, and pollution prevention. The Hotline is available for employees to access the clearinghouse information, and to question or comment on conservation-related activities. For example, during FY97, an employee suggested that EPA continue using existing chillers and replace the CFC-containing refrigerant, rather than replace the entire chiller. After Hotline staff researched the suggestion, the response stated that, although a refrigerant retrofit may have a positive net present value over the lifespan of the chillers compared to the replacement option, the environmental effect would be negative.

Awareness Package

As part of the conservation program, EPA distributes a package of energy and water conservation awareness information annually (in October) to all facility and energy managers. In FY97, EPA distributed an awareness package designed to directly address the information needs of facility managers and communicate useful information in an accessible fashion. This year’s package included:

Site Visits and Opportunity Analyses Pie chart of energy usage within EPA facilities: Click for text version

EPA visited six of its laboratories in FY97 to assess and monitor existing energy-intensive mechanical equipment and energy management practices, evaluate conservation opportunities, and provide recommendations to help facilities meet their energy reduction goals. Through these visits, EPA again confirmed that HVAC systems are the largest energy conservation opportunity for the Agency due to the health and safety requirements for one-pass air. As a result, its energy conservation program continues to focus on the HVAC challenge as the principal target for energy reduction. In addition, the visits have produced elevated awareness and commitment to energy reduction. The following site visits and activities conducted in FY97 are listed below.

Ada, OK

At the Ada facility, EPA:

Ann Arbor, MI

At the NFVEL, EPA:

Cincinnati, OH

At the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center (AWBERC), EPA:

Edison, NJ

At the Edison facility, EPA:

Gulf Breeze, FL

At the Gulf Breeze facility, EPA:

Narragansett, RI

At the Narragansett facility, EPA:

The energy audits at Ada and Narragansett helped determine the opportunity for energy savings, and initiated the development of the DOE-2 model simulations to determine the feasibility for conducting an energy upgrade. For both laboratories, ground source and geothermal technology are being considered for incorporation.

Site visits to Gulf Breeze and Edison were conducted to determine the effectiveness of existing equipment. For the Gulf Breeze laboratory, analyses of temperature and humidity data, along with a weather bin analysis provided the basis for a heat pipe effectiveness study. Through the study, it was determined that the heat pipe pre-cooling load, and subsequent reheat load, increases linearly with outside temperature and that the heat pipe provides a maximum of 20-tons of pre-cooling and 240 kBTU/h of reheat without energy input. At the Edison laboratory, a technical evaluation of the existing desiccant system was conducted. The site visit to the Cincinnati laboratory was primarily a follow-up to encourage energy savings opportunities identified during several energy audits conducted the previous year.

In FY98 EPA anticipates visiting the following laboratories to assess the energy savings opportunities: Ada, OK; Ann Arbor, MI; Athens, GA; Duluth, MN; Edison, NJ; Gulf Breeze, FL; Manchester, WA; Narragansett, RI; Richmond, CA.

Energy Consumption and Cost Reporting

The Energy Policy Act requires that each federal agency track its energy and water consumption information. In response, EPA developed a report form to be completed by each facility’s energy manager on a quarterly basis (Appendix A, Figure 1, provides a copy of the form). The quarterly report includes consumption and cost information for all forms of energy, including electricity, natural gas, propane, fuel oil, and purchased steam, as well as square footage information. This reporting process began in 1993, and continues for the 16 facilities where EPA is directly responsible for paying utilities.

EPA’s energy consumption database shows that the Agency’s utility-responsible facilities consumed the following energy in FY97:

BTU Conversion Factors
Electricity
Natural Gas
Fuel Oil
Propane
Purchased Steam		 3,412 BTU/kWh
103,100 BTU/CCF
138,700 BTU/gal
95,500 BTU/gal
933 BTU/lb

Annual energy consumption at each facility is summarized in British Thermal Units (Btu). With approximately 2.9 million square feet of space, EPA consumed 354,903 Btu per square-foot during FY97 (since Montgomery’s FY97 consumption was not verified, their energy consumption from FY96 was used for FY97). Appendix A provides the Agency’s FY97 Annual Energy Management Data Report.

CO2 Production

Since 1995, through its efforts to reduce energy consumption, EPA has eliminated the production of approximately 4,329 tons of carbon dioxide emissions associated with energy production. This CO2 emission reduction has the equivalent effect of planting 1,674 acres of trees or removing 808 cars from the road.

EPA's FY97 electricity reduction measures saved over 24 million kW=hours of electricity compared to 1985 levels! This reduction, in turn, prevented 18,100 tons of utility- generated carbon dioxide in FY97, equivalent to removing 2,410 cars from the road.

During the past four years, EPA has required its facilities to monitor and report water consumption and costs on a quarterly basis (these data are obtained in conjunction with the energy consumption data). Since 1994, EPA has required the use of water conserving equipment in all newly leased and built facilities. Assessments of water conservation opportunities are part of EPA’s facility site visit program and have led to operational and management measures that have reduced water consumption. Compared to the 1994 baseline, in FY97 EPA reduced water consumption by 16 percent. (See Appendix A, Figure 5 for EPA’s Annual Water Consumption.)

Training

EPA participated in, and hosted, numerous training events during FY97. Program staff regularly attended energy and water conservation conferences, seminars, and working groups. Titles of these events include: the Pre-Bid Conference for the ESPC Project at National Vehicle Fuel Emissions Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan; the National Renewable Energy Training Conference; ESPC Training; the Federal Energy Management Program Renewable Working Group; Water Conservation Working Group; and the Corporation for Solar and Renewable Resources Conference. Product demonstration seminars and trips with various vendors were arranged for EPA's engineers, architects and facility management to encourage their use of proven innovative technologies. In addition, contract staff who are certified trained energy managers briefed program staff periodically throughout the year on innovative technologies and technology design.

From now through FY99, many of EPA’s engineers, facility managers, and energy managers will have attended the Association of Energy Engineers’ Certification for Energy Mangers (CEM) training program (offered nationwide) and become Certified Energy Mangers.

Energy Management Training

The Office of Administration, in cooperation with Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has instituted a semi-annual conference entitled "Laboratories for the 21st Century" for agencies pursuing energy upgrades in federal laboratories. EPA and DOE partnered on this program due to the energy-intensive nature of laboratories, the need to provide sound, energy-efficient technology alternatives for laboratory applications, and to create a forum for federal laboratories to obtain up-to-date information and support for implementing energy conservation programs.

The first conference was held at the American Institute of Architects headquarters in Washington, DC, in September 1997 and was well attended with representatives from a wide variety of agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Disease Control, Sandia National Laboratory, and Princeton Plasma Research Laboratory. The conference is organized into two sessions, a formal training component and an informal open discussion. The training is provided by a host of speakers from EPA, DOE, LBL, NREL, and academia, who present views and technical information on subjects as varied as utility deregulation and passive solar design and the related impacts and considerations for laboratory design, construction, and operation. The informal sessions enabled attendees to present their agency’s current issues and projects and have their federal peers join in an exchange of views and experiences. The second conference is scheduled for May 5-7, 1998, in San Francisco, California.

Office of Administration’s Annual National Conference

EPA hosted its Office of Administration’s Annual National Conference to provide training to EPA employees responsible for facility maintenance, operations, and safety. Sessions on energy and water conservation, pollution prevention, and environmental regulatory compliance were presented to facility representatives. EPA staff learned how to incorporate these programs into the B&F funding process.

The session of energy conservation focused on current efforts to implement ESPCs at several EPA facilities in addition to the following topics: EPA’s mission and national goals of security, sustainability, environmental choices, pollution prevention and the future; personal ownership for facility managers and employees; energy flows within the laboratory environment; and integration of energy-efficient technologies to provide a comprehensive energy system.

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