U.S. Government Accelerates its Purchase of Fuel-Efficient Vehicles
DOE Launches Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance
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Mercedes-Benz Offers Hybrid with Lithium-Ion Battery at $12K Premium
EIA Expects Gasoline Prices to Rise Moderately by Summer
U.S. Government Accelerates its Purchase of Fuel-Efficient Vehicles
President Obama announced last week that the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) will buy about 17,600 new, fuel-efficient vehicles from U.S. auto companies by June 1.
The purchase will draw on funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will be on an accelerated schedule to help support U.S. automakers. The GSA will spend $285 million to purchase vehicles from General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. The purchase includes 2,500 hybrid sedans - the largest one-time purchase of hybrids for the federal government to date - and each new vehicle will yield at least a 10% fuel economy improvement over the vehicle it replaces. The GSA will also spend $15 million by the end of September to purchase a pilot fleet of advanced-technology vehicles, including all-electric vehicles, hybrid buses, and buses that run on compressed natural gas. See the White House press release.
DOE Launches the Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance
DOE has launched the Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance (CREEA), a partnership of commercial real estate owners and operators that have volunteered to work with DOE to drastically reduce the commercial real estate sector's energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Commercial buildings account for 18% of the nation's energy consumption and CO2 emissions. CREEA will link commercial building owners and operators and DOE's research and technologies, and will act as national forum to share best practices and practical experiences in energy efficiency.
CREEA steering committee members include leading real estate and building engineering organizations; the U.S. General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings; U.S. and global leaders in real estate services, such as CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield Inc., Grubb & Ellis Company, Jones Lang LaSalle, Transwestern, and USAA Real Estate Company; and top hotel, casino, and resort owners, such as Hilton Hotels Corporation, MGM Mirage, The Walt Disney Company, and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, LLC.
CREEA is the second energy alliance launched by DOE in the commercial buildings sector. The Retailer Energy Alliance, launched in 2008, provides similar resources and services for retail businesses, including Walmart, Target, and Macy's. Both alliances are part of DOE's Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative, which aims to achieve market-ready, net-zero-energy commercial buildings by 2025.
The initiative is supported by the National Laboratory Collaborative on Building Technologies, under which five of DOE's national laboratories have been working toward the net-zero energy goal, and the Commercial Building National Accounts, which includes DOE-selected companies and organizations that conduct cost-shared research, development, and deployment for new building technologies. See the DOE press release and the CREEA Web page on DOE's Building Technologies Program Web site.
DOE has taken a number of steps to encourage energy efficiency in new building design. In 2001, it released the first version of EnergyPlus, an energy modeling tool that has been updated at least twice each year. And last year, DOE released OpenStudio, a plug-in for the Google SketchUp 3-D drawing program that allows SketchUp to work seamlessly with the EnergyPlus program.
The most recent versions of both EnergyPlus and OpenStudio were released on Monday, and both are available on the EnergyPlus page of DOE's Building Technologies Program Web site. That site also features a selection of benchmark models for 16 types of building in 16 locations to help designers understand the energy use of similar new buildings. The models were developed last year with the help of three of DOE's national laboratories.
