The Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) is a coalition of companies and trade associations from the energy efficiency, natural gas and renewable energy sectors, and also includes independent electric power producers, investor-owned utilities, public power and commercial end-users. Established in 1992, the Council advocates for policies that expand the use of commercially-available clean energy technologies, products and services.
“The Business Council for Sustainable Energy is pleased that the federal government will continue to lead by example through expanded use of Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) using the successful Federal Performance Contracting Challenge” Ms Jacobson said. “ESPCs enable the federal government to reduce energy consumption and to install renewable energy projects by partnering with the private sector. The cost of the projects is repaid through guaranteed energy cost savings. With an ESPC, an Energy Services Company installs new energy efficient equipment at federal facilities with no upfront cost to the government. These improvements reduce energy and water consumption. Federal agencies then pay the energy service company over a period of time using the annualized energy cost savings. By law, the savings are guaranteed so the government never pays more than it would have paid for utilities if it had not entered into the ESPC.”
Ms Jacobson added that since 2008 federal agencies have awarded over $3.5 billion in energy savings performance contracts to improve energy efficiency and are on track to reach the administration's $4 billion goal by the end of the year. The administration's plan to expand the use of this innovative financial tool by an additional $2 billion will save money and further increase investments in smart infrastructure, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
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