GreenBiz.com:

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 10, 2007 -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hired Honeywell to help it achieve its energy savings goals it announced this week.

The DOE's Transformational Energy Action Management (TEAM) Initiative could save $90 million in taxpayer money annually by slashing the energy intensity at its facilities by 30 percent.

The U.S. government is the single greatest consumer of energy in the country, while DOE is the second largest energy user of all civilian federal agencies, it said in a statement Wednesday.

"Over the next few years, DOE will leverage every possible public and private resource to improve our energy performance and reduce our energy intensity, said DOE Secretary Samuel W. Bodman in a statement. "By fundamentally transforming the way the Department manages energy use in its facilities, not only will we be able to achieve the President's ambitious goals for increasing efficiency, but it will also allow for a cleaner, leaner and more efficient federal government."

There are energy efficiency policies in the place to get federal agencies to slash greenhouse gas emissions, lower petroleum use in federal fleets, implement green design principles and boost renewable energy use but the TEAM Initiative goes further.

TEAM mandates that the agency have executable plans in place for its facilities to lower energy intensity by 30 percent. It will monitor water use and implement a plan to save water by fiscal 2008 in order to cut consumption by 16 percent or more.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday that DOE hired Honeywell to develop energy savings programs at DOE sites. The company will create water and energy conservation models and help implement performance contracts for each DOE site.

Duties also will include auditing each site's electrical, lighting, heating, cooling and water systems to pinpoint waste. Honeywell told the Star Tribune it has worked with 2,000 customers for programs that have saved $2 billion in energy costs.

The TEAM Initiative also will maximize installation of renewable energy projects on its sites or buy renewable energy. The Honeywell audits will likely consider sources of renewable energy such as biomass-fueled heating systems.

The agency’s new construction, major renovations and 15 percent of its existing federal capital asset building inventory must use the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings. Eventually those guidelines will be replaced by LEED Gold certification standards or the equivalent.

The agency expects the TEAM Initiative to require several up-front investments for things like advanced lighting, heating and air conditioning upgrades. It plans to fund the Initiative with the savings from boosting its energy efficiency.