The Challenge
When the President ordered federal agencies to cut greenhouse emissions by 30 percent, which would save taxpayers over $750 million each year when fully implemented, the Pentagon began an exhaustive look for possible energy improvements at 2,100 buildings on its five military installations in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. These installations, also known as the Military District of Washington, consist of Fort Belvoir, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Myer, Fort McNair and Fort Meade.

With the assistance of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab, the Department of Defense (DOD) sought bids from private sector experts to provide solutions to the energy needs of the Military District of Washington. After a very competitive bid process, the DOD awarded the largest ever Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) to Pepco Energy Services to provide a range of services including energy engineering, equipment installation, construction supervision and measurement and verification.

The Solution

Pepco Energy upgraded the energy performance of 688 buildings and is maintaining the equipment for 18 years, � saving over $200 million in energy costs during the contract term and 72,000 metric tons of CO₂ (MTC/yr). The equivalent of removing 57,000 cars from the road each year.

The Pepco Energy solution included the following:

• Lighting retrofits and replacements of 150,000 light fixtures in 550 buildings, reducing annual energy consumption by 20.6 million kWh.
• Cooling system retrofits and replacements for 460 cooling units, reducing annual energy consumption by 7.6 million kWh.
• Air handling unit replacements and retrofitting for 430 air handling units in 90 buildings, reducing annual energy consumption by 14 million kWh.
• Central heating plant upgrades with new gas-fired boilers at two central steam plants, reducing annual energy consumption by 64,000 MMBTU.
• Central cooling plant upgrades including a new absorption chiller and chilled-water distribution line, reducing annual energy consumption by 1.7 million kWh.
• Water consumption and wastewater conservation measures in 160 buildings, retrofitting 550 existing plumbing fixtures with ultra-low-flow units, reducing annual water consumption by 30.1 million gallons.

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