by Brianna Crandall — May 4, 2011—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced April 29 a $213 million Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration White Oak Federal Research Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. The task order is the largest awarded under the ESPC program since it began more than a decade ago.
The contract, awarded by the General Services Administration (GSA) to Honeywell International, will use avoided energy costs to leverage private-sector investment to pay for the $213 million project. The project’s goal is to make the research center a model of energy efficiency, saving more than 5.5 trillion BTU over 20 years. In the first year alone, the project is expected to save more than $25 million in energy and avoided operations and maintenance costs.
This project features a combined heat and power plant that will reliably produce electricity for the critical laboratory needs of FDA (250,000 MWh per year) and use waste heat to produce building heating and cooling. The project also includes upgrades to the HVAC systems, improvements to lighting (including LEDs), and modifications to the building envelope to make it more energy efficient. Under the ESPC, Honeywell guarantees that the improvements will generate energy cost savings sufficient to pay for the project.
