Potential Energy, Cost, and CO2 Savings from Energy-Efficient Government Purchasing1

Panel: Panel 4. Commercial Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Authors:
Jeffrey Harris, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Francis Johnson, Stockholm Environment Institute

Abstract

The public sector — including federal, state, and local agencies — purchases at least 10% of all energy-using products in the US. The federal government alone is the largest buyer in the world for many products. Channeling this enormous buying power toward energy-efficient products can stimulate market transformation throughout the economy. Government initiatives in the U.S. also offer a promising model for other countries with industrial, developing, or transition economies, where government leadership in energyefficient purchasing is an important but largely overlooked policy option.

Within the federal sector, the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) promotes energy-efficient purchasing by helping federal agencies comply with requirements of the 1992 Energy Policy Act and a 1999 Executive Order. The order directs agencies to buy ENERGY STAR® labeled products or those in the upper quartile (25 ^th percentile) of the market, with respect to energy efficiency. The EPA/DOE Energy Star Purchasing Program encourages similar policies and practices in state and local purchasing.

This paper estimates the potential energy, cost, and CO2 savings from federal and non-federal government purchasing of energy-efficient products. For the federal sector, we present detailed results for the first 21 products analyzed by FEMP (including many ENERGY STAR® labeled products), based on an equipment stock turnover model and a series of four scenarios of federal agency compliance with energy-efficient purchasing policies. This detailed analysis covers residential appliances and equipment, office equipment, some lighting technologies, and water-saving products. A less detailed analysis of savings covers federal purchases of larger, non-residential heating and cooling equipment; this adds about 30% to the initial savings estimate. Within the federal sector, combined savings in 2010 for the two groups of products range from 11 to 42 TBtu/year (site energy) for the four scenarios. This represents about $160-620 million/year in reduced federal energy costs. These savings also equal 3-12 % of current energy use in federal buildings, and a major contribution (7-28%) to the federal goal of reducing building energy intensity by 35% (from 1985 levels) as of 2010.