President Obama announced the adoption of an initiative on Friday to use public-private partnerships to achieve energy efficiency in federal facilities – a plan recommended by Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).
The federal government will strive to increase energy efficiency performance updates in federal facilities from $2 billion to $4 billion over the next two years under the initiative.
“I’m glad to see that President Obama is realizing the potential of public-private partnerships when it comes to energy efficiency,” Gardner said. “Increasing energy efficiency through performance savings contracts is a commonsense idea where we can all come together. This initiative provides an incredible opportunity to create jobs, save taxpayer dollars and reduce waste, and I look forward to continuing my work promoting these practices.”
The initiative allows federal agencies to sign energy savings performance contracts and utility energy service contracts with private companies. Under performance contracts, private companies are compensated based on the performance of energy upgrades at federal buildings.
Gardner and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) encouraged the president to increase energy efficiency in federal buildings through public-private partnerships in a letter last year.
“The federal government is the largest energy user in the country, and I’m pleased that (Obama) set a high-bar (on Friday) for energy efficiency savings,” Welch said.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently approved the Energy Savings Through Public-Private Partnerships Act, which was co-authored by Gardner and Welch to increase the use of public-private partnerships.