The largest structure in Washington D.C. is getting a $23 million facelift.
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is one of more than 100 buildings under the General Services Administration (GSA) that are scheduled for upgrades with emerging and sustainable technologies.
GSA announced recently that the Reagan building will be fully electrified with the planned upgrades as the government works to achieve net-zero emissions in federal buildings by 2045.
GSA projects to save more than $6.2 million in annual utility costs with the upgrades, which includes installing heat pumps and removing the building from the GSA’s natural-gas-powered central steam plant loop. The move to heat pumps is expected to reduce energy use per square feet by almost 50 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent.
Renovations are expected to begin in spring 2024 with completion in spring 2025. In addition to installing heat pumps, the project will also include supplemental boilers for heating hot water systems, installing new heat pump chillers and replacing domestic hot water heaters using steam with electric heaters among other updates.
The Reagan building measures 3 million square feet and is located on Pennsylvania Avenue between the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House. Construction began in 1990 and it was dedicated in 1998. Government agencies and private businesses operate within it.
GSA, which is working with Johnson Controls Federal System on the upgrades, estimates that net-zero projects for its buildings could reduce carbon emissions by over 2 million metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions – equivalent to taking 500,000 gas-powered vehicles off the road for one year.
Dave Lubach is executive editor of the facilities market.
