DOE to Help Increase Energy Efficiency at Marine Sanctuaries

January 29, 2008

DOE has agreed to work with the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) to promote and increase energy efficiency at marine sanctuaries throughout the country. DOE Assistant Secretary Alexander Karsner signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on January 29 with Daniel Basta, director of the NMSP, which is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The MOU focuses on identifying energy-saving measures, facilitating energy audits, and implementing energy efficient technologies in all of NMSP's facilities. DOE will kick off the new partnership by facilitating energy audits at the sanctuaries in Key West, Florida; Kihei, Hawaii (on the island of Maui); and Scituate, Massachusetts.

The NMSP intends to use DOE's findings to identify energy-saving activities that can be used throughout the sanctuary sites and the NMSP headquarters. The NMSP system includes 13 national marine sanctuaries, 1 marine national monument, and more than 30 facilities that are located throughout the country and in American Samoa. The MOU follows the NMSP's "Blue Seas, Green Communities" initiative, which seeks to make their marine sanctuaries more efficient while participating in local projects that help "green" the community. See the DOE press release and the National Marine Sanctuaries Web site.