Brady PieperFrom Texas to the Eastern Seaboard, U.S. federal agencies are taking major steps to reduce their carbon footprint.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing nearly $150 million in grants to lessen U.S. federal agencies’ greenhouse gas emissions and local energy reliance. The funding will support energy conservation projects in 28 U.S. states and territories.
This funding is part of the Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT) grant program, which is designed to support the Fed’s goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in all federal buildings by 2045.
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This round of AFFECT projects, managed by DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), will implement a variety of clean energy technologies, including battery energy storage systems, microgrids and building automation systems.
In Texas, one project will utilize $7.2 million in AFFECT grants to implement energy conservation measures in Austin’s Internal Revenue Service. As a part of a multisite energy savings performance contract, the $54 million project will eliminate district steam usage, install solar photovoltaic arrays and ground source heat pumps and decouple from the General Service Administration’s steam plant.
This project is predicted to reduce the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, natural gas consumption by 87% and generate more than 7,100 MBtu of on-site renewable energy annually.
Combined, all selected projects under the AFFECT program’s second round are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 19,370 gas-powered vehicles from the road annually.
In addition to saving taxpayers $41.7 million a year in energy and water costs, the projects will conserve more than a billion gallons of water annually, generate affordable carbon-free electricity, support disadvantaged communities and ensure that initiatives utilize American-made products and manufacturing.
For selected projects, FEMP and the DOE will enter a negotiation period with awardees. The DOE will reserve the right to cancel negotiations or rescind award selection at any time.
This AFFECT award announcement will now bring the program’s total grant commitments to $250 million, effectively exhausting the initiative. Through both rounds, FEMP will support 31 federal agencies and 67 energy conservation and clean energy projects that will further the DOE’s federal leadership in energy efficiency and sustainability.
For additional information on the AFFECT grant program, selected projects and grant allocations, see FEMP’s AFFECT Phase 1 project selections and Phase 2 project selections webpages.
Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash
