Energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) are one way for institutional and commercial facilities to save significant money on energy costs.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which provides centralized procurement and shared services for the federal government, is one of the leading organizations in setting the pace for energy savings.
The GSA recently awarded an ESPC for five GSA-owned facilities in the National Capital Region, an area that includes Washington D.C. The contract is worth $120 million and is part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding that enables buildings to receive deep energy retrofits through electrification of systems while using American-made low embodied carbon materials.
GSA manages a national portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet and oversees about $100 billion in products and services via federal contracts.
The buildings addressed in this most recent contract include the following buildings, all based in D.C.: the Elijah Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse; the William B. Bryant Annex; the Orville Wright Federal Building; the Wilbur Wright Federal Building; and the Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building in College Park, Maryland.
Featured projects include:
The projects are projected to save the GSA $2.2 million annually in utility costs and reduce the buildings’ carbon emissions by 5,734 metric tons.
Lighting upgrades, adding building controls and the electrification of heating systems at the Wright buildings, U.S. Courthouse and the Bryant Annex are the most significant energy saving projects in this contract.
ESPCs are partnerships between an energy service company (ESCO) and a facility. The ESCO conducts a comprehensive energy audit of a facility and identifies improvements to save energy. The ESCO partners with the facility team to help with a budget strategy and deliver the expected energy savings.
IRA provided GSA with $3.4 billion to modernize and maintain more sustainable and high-efficient buildings using low-embodied carbon materials. GSA projects to reduce its energy costs by $450 million through the projects and reduce its operational carbon emissions by 2.3 million metric tons.
GSA plans to achieve net-zero emissions from federal buildings by 2045.
Dave Lubach is executive editor of the facility market.
