The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has crafted a seven-step approach, presented in the ENERGY STAR Guidelines for Energy Management, that achieves energy management and savings in all building types, including local government buildings. According to EPA’s published document series Local Government Climate and Energy Strategy Series: Energy Efficiency in Local Government Operations, “The most effective way to reduce energy consumption in local government buildings is to engage in a portfolio-wide, systematic approach for improving energy efficiency in owned and leased building space, and to incorporate energy efficiency into the design of new and renovated buildings.”By taking a portfolio-wide approach, local governments can:

• Reduce local government energy costs.
• Reduce the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by local government facilities.
• Offset costs of energy efficiency projects in buildings with high upfront costs by using the savings from other energy-efficient buildings.
• Generate momentum for energy efficiency activities, which may lead to sustained implementation and savings.

To help local governments achieve superior energy management within jurisdictional facilities, EPA’s ENERGY STAR program has designed a beginner’s level approach in tackling this goal. The method involves these seven steps:

1. Make a commitment
2. Assess performance
3. Set goals
4. Create an action plan
5. Implement the action plan
6. Evaluate progress
7. Recognize achievements

The guidelines for energy management detailed by EPA’s ENERGY STAR program break down the basic steps into manageable and achievable tasks. As an example, for the first step, according to ENERGY STAR, “Making a commitment” to energy efficiency can be accomplished in three tasks:

• Appoint an energy director
• Establish an energy team
• Institute an energy policy.

ENERGY STAR details each task in detail by providing further explanations and making suggestions on the implementation process.

As an additional resource, the EPA’s Local Government Climate and Energy Strategy Series: Energy Efficiency in Local Government Operations, also details these steps by supplementing them with local government examples.

If your local government is interested in learning more about the guidelines for energy management and how other local governments have implemented these steps, link to Guidelines for Energy Management and Local Government Climate and Energy Strategy Series: Energy Efficiency in Local Government Operations.