Congress has an ongoing interest in ensuring that the 500,000 buildings and other structures owned and operated by the Department of Defense (DOD) are operated effectively in terms of cost and resource use. Section 2830 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to the congressional defense committees on the energy-efficiency and sustainability standards used by DOD for military construction and major renovations of buildings. DOD's report must include a cost-benefit analysis, return on investment, and long-term payback for the building standards and green building certification systems, including: (A) American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 189.1-2011 for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential. (B) ASHRAE Energy Standard 90.1-2010 for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential. (C) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver, Gold, and Platinum certification for green buildings, as well as the LEED Volume certification. (D) Other American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards. DOD's report to the congressional defense committees must also include a copy of DOD policy prescribing a comprehensive strategy for the pursuit of design and building standards across the department that include specific energy-efficiency standards and sustainable design attributes for military construction based on the cost-benefit analysis, return on investment, and demonstrated payback required for the aforementioned building standards and green building certification systems. Energy-Efficiency Standards and Green Building Certification Systems Used by the Department of Defense for Military Construction and Major Renovations summarizes the recommendations for energy efficiency.

In the early 1970s, Congress began mandating reductions in energy consumed by fed. agencies; primarily by improving building efficiency, and reducing fossil fuel use. Early legislation mandated a 10% reduction in fed. building energy and a recent Exec. Order mandates a 30% further reduction by 2015. This report reviews energy conservation legislation and Exec. Orders that apply to the DoD. Contents: Background; Energy Efficiency Legislation; Defense Energy Policies; Defense Energy Consumption and Spending; Renewable Electric Energy Purchases; Defense Energy Efficiency Improvements; Policy Considerations and Options for Congress. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand publication.

The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to make significant progress toward achieving the goals of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) and Executive Order (EO) 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management. The DOD Energy Program initiatives include energy awareness efforts, energy manager training, audit programs, procurement of energy efficient products, and the use of sustainable design in new construction and major renovation. Other contributing factors include integrated energy planning, enhanced use of renewable energy, demonstration of innovative technologies, and the use of Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC) and Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESC). DOD is responding to EPAct 2005 and EO 13423. Combined, these mandates established a new energy baseline (2003), increased the annual reduction requirement to 3 percent per year, increased the percentage of renewable energy required (7.5 percent by 2013), increased energy efficiency of new construction to 30 percent below the current standard, and required metering electricity consumption of all facilities. Through Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, the Department of Defense achieved a 10.1 percent decrease in goal facility energy consumption (as measured on a British Thermal Units (Btu) per gross square foot (GSF) basis [Btu/GSF]) as compared to the revised 2003 baseline. The Department of the Army determined that the square footage was over reported in 2003, compared to data contained in the real property database. Therefore, this book contains a significantly revised baseline, which raises the previously reported Btu/GSF from 113,510 to 116,134. At the end of FY 2007 the Department has 1.95 billion square feet of facilities and spent $3.4 billion on facility energy. DoD spent $9.5 billion on non-fleet vehicles and other equipment - such as auto gasoline, LPG-Propane, Aviation Gasoline, jet fuel and Navy-special fuel. DOD continues to make progress in installing renewable energy technologies and purchasing electricity generated from renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass) when life cycle cost-effective. The National Defence Authorization Act of 2007 codified a 2005 DOD goal to produce or procure renewable energy equivalent to 25 percent of facility electrical consumption. The total renewable energy that the Department produced or procured in FY 2007 amounted to 12,054 trillion Btu and represents 11.9 percent of the facility electrical consumption. For FY 2007, the Department of Energy revised the guidance for compliance with the renewable energy requirements of EPAct 2005 and EO 13423, allowing only renewable electricity. Under this revised guidance, DoD achieved 5.5 percent total and 3.3 percent new renewable energy, well exceeding the goals of 3 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

The design, construction, operation, and retrofit of buildings is evolving in response to ever-increasing knowledge about the impact of indoor environments on people and the impact of buildings on the environment. Research has shown that the quality of indoor environments can affect the health, safety, and productivity of the people who occupy them. Buildings are also resource intensive, accounting for 40 percent of primary energy use in the United States, 12 percent of water consumption, and 60 percent of all non-industrial waste. The processes for producing electricity at power plants and delivering it for use in buildings account for 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. federal government manages approximately 429,000 buildings of many types with a total square footage of 3.34 billion worldwide, of which about 80 percent is owned space. More than 30 individual departments and agencies are responsible for managing these buildings. The characteristics of each agency's portfolio of facilities are determined by its mission and its programs. In 2010, GSA's Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings asked the National Academies to appoint an ad hoc committee of experts to conduct a public workshop and prepare a report that identified strategies and approaches for achieving a range of objectives associated with high-performance green federal buildings. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities identifies examples of important initiatives taking place and available resources. The report explores how these examples could be used to help make sustainability the preferred choice at all levels of decision making. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities can serve as a valuable guide federal agencies with differing missions, types of facilities, and operating procedures.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) What Is Green Building (GB)?: Energy; Water; Materials; Waste; Health; Siting; Serviceability; Disaster Resistance; Integration: Balance Among Elements; Balance Across Stages; Interdependence; Leadership in Energy and Environ. Design (LEED); Other Systems: Performance; Cost; Measurement; Market Penetration; Approach; (3) Legislative and Policy Framework; Energy Policy Act of 1992, and 2005; Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007; ARRA of 2009; Executive Order 13423, and 13514; (4) Programs and Activities of Selected Fed. Agencies; GSA; DoE; EPA; Office of the Fed. Environ. Exec.; NIST; HUD; (7) Issues for Congress: Oversight; Adoption and Implementation of GB. Charts and tables.

At head of title: Airport Cooperative Research Program.