Federal Teams Honored for Energy Achievements

July 15, 2004

Fifteen teams and three individuals at U.S. federal agencies were honored on July 15th at the 2004 Presidential Energy and Environmental Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. The ceremony commended the winners of the Presidential Awards for Leadership in Federal Energy Management, now in its fifth year of honoring exemplary energy efficiency efforts, as well as the winners of the 10th annual Closing the Circle Awards, which recognizes outstanding environmental stewardship. See the DOE press release.

The six federal teams honored for their renewable energy and energy efficiency efforts include DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Purchase Program, the Air Force Renewable Energy Team, and energy management teams from the Marine Corps, the New England Region of the General Services Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Together, the six teams helped save 1.8 trillion Btu per year, or enough energy to supply about 17,000 homes. Details on the six teams' accomplishments are available on the DOE Federal Energy Management Program Web site.

Photo of the new building at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

This building at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge won a Closing the Circle Award.
Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Although the Closing the Circle Awards go toward a wider array of environmental actions by federal employees, this year's awards included two green building efforts. One awardee, the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia, combined a well-insulated building envelope, daylighting, solar power, energy-efficient lighting, and geothermal heat pumps in its new educational and administrative center. The other awardee, the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground, built an energy-efficient model home using structural insulated panels, high-performance windows, an energy recovery ventilator, solar water heating, solar power, and energy-efficient lighting and appliances. The home was a project of DOE's Building America Program. See the nominations for the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the Yuma Proving Ground on the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive Web site, and see the Building America Program's description of the Yuma Proving Ground home.