U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Federal Energy Management Program – Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy Options

The federal government can use renewable energy in three ways:

On-site Projects:

In these projects, solar water heating, passive solar design, photovoltaic (PV), wind, biomass or another renewable energy system (or group of them) is installed where the energy will be consumed. Wind, geothermal, and biomass systems are commonly installed in specific areas with good resources. But solar technologies—which include passive solar designs, solar water heating, ventilation air preheating, and PV—are applicable almost everywhere, and nearly every federal facility can benefit from them. Note that state and local governments and utilities often provide rebates or incentives that help to make these projects more affordable.

Buying Renewable Power:

Agencies are also buying renewable or "green" power or purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs, or "green tags") from a utility or other organization. Renewable power may be available through competitive electricity procurements if your state has a competitive power market. For green tags, you pay a small premium for the environmental attributes of a renewable power source. Renewable power and green tags are good, relatively simple choices for facilities where on-site projects are not a viable option, or when capital budgets are very limited.

Facilitated Projects:

FEMP also encourages agencies to facilitate large projects that are on federal lands or serve the needs of federal agency customers. An example is a large renewable energy project on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. If your facility is in a western state, you might want to contact the BLM about opportunities to collaborate on a facilitated renewable energy project on federal land. These projects offer the opportunity for large-scale application of renewable energy technologies. Because much of the demand for facilitated projects is driven by the private sector's interest in developing these projects, FEMP's role in assisting these projects is flexible and depends on the agency's needs.

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