President Obama sent a memorandum establishing new goals for renewable energy and energy-management practices at federal agencies as follows:
>>By fiscal year 2020, to the extent economically feasible and technically practicable, 20 percent of the total amount of electric energy consumed by each federal agency shall be renewable energy.
>>To better manage building performance, enhance energy efficiency, and reduce energy waste, each agency shall install building energy meters and sub-meters and enter the meter data into the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager.
>>The General Services Administration, in coordination with the Department of Energy and the EPA, shall prepare and initiate a strategy to pilot Green Button at federal facilities where feasible, and the EPA shall update Energy Star Portfolio Manager to facilitate the inclusion of building energy usage data using Green Button.
The Obama administration had other energy announcements this week. The administration extended the use of performance-based contracts through 2016 for agencies to upgrade the energy efficiency of federal buildings. And the DOE and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) expanded the Better Buildings Challenge to multifamily housing and announced 50 multifamily partners – representing roughly 200,000 units and over 190 million square feet – have committed to cutting their energy use by 20 percent in ten years.
There was Green Button news this week as well. A group of vendors, in partnership with Hydro One and London Hydro and supported by the Canadian Ministry of Energy, is conducting a Green Button pilot in Ontario, Canada, to give Ontarians direct access to their own energy data through a secure download from their utility’s website.