GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge Charrette

The GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge is an initiative by the General Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings (OFHPGB), and the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) to achieve deep energy savings in 30-35 federal buildings using Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs). A workshop held in October 2011 by RMI and GSA identified structural, contractual, and technical barriers to achieving net zero energy, proposing a shift toward integrative design, streamlined procurement, and shared risk to move beyond conventional shallow retrofits.

• The Net Zero Renovation Challenge involves 30-35 GSA buildings as demonstration projects to achieve deep energy savings through ESPCs. GSA invited 16 FEMP prequalified ESCOs to create plans to bring these buildings to net zero energy, with awards based on absolute energy savings, financial and technical creativity, replicability, design process, and progress toward EISA/GSA goals.
• For the purpose of the Challenge, 'net zero site energy' is the preferred metric, defined as a site producing at least as much renewable energy as it consumes over a year. Acceptable renewable sources include onsite photovoltaic (PV), solar hot water, wind, biomass, biogas, ethanol, and biodiesel, while renewable energy credits (RECs) are explicitly prohibited.
• RMI defines 'deep energy retrofits' as those achieving over 50% reduction in energy use, contrasting them with 'shallow retrofits'. Achieving these savings requires an integrative, whole-system approach that follows a specific sequence: defining end-user needs, understanding existing systems, reducing loads (passive first), selecting efficient HVAC, finding synergies, optimizing controls, and finally incorporating renewables.
• The current ESPC award process is identified as a major barrier due to its length, averaging 18 months. GSA and FEMP intend to expedite this process, targeting 30 days for selection and 8 months for award to reduce costs to ESCOs and potentially add 20-30% from savings to project budgets.
• Financial and contractual barriers to deep retrofits include high financing costs, a lack of integration with planned capital improvements, and the exclusion of avoided future capital and maintenance costs. Proposed solutions include seeking interest rates closer to the federal discount rate (0.75%) and clarifying eligible savings to include O&M and avoided capital costs.
• Occupant behavior is a significant but underutilized source of energy savings in ESPCs because it is difficult to quantify and verify. The report suggests incorporating behavior savings into bundles rather than as stand-alone measures and using risk-sharing or incentives to encourage ESCOs to include these strategies.
• Measurement and Verification (M&V) challenges include uncertainty regarding building operations after installation and a lack of consistency across GSA regions. Proposed solutions include treating operations and maintenance (O&M) as an energy conservation measure (ECM) and assigning responsibility to the ESCO to oversee O&M contractors.
• Federal mandates, specifically the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007), require federal agencies to reduce facility energy intensity to 49 kBtu/gsf by 2020, representing a 37.5% reduction from the FY 2003 baseline of 78 kBtu/gsf. EISA 433 further requires a 65% fossil fuel reduction by 2015, increasing to 100% by 2030.
• The report highlights that while technology to achieve net zero and EISA 433 goals exists, some solutions like large solar arrays or biomass CHP may not be self-funding. To optimize costs, the report suggests that efficiency measures should be implemented if their cost is less than the cost of the renewable generation required to offset that load.

APA

RMI (2011). GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge Charrette. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2011-18_GSANetZero.pdf

Chicago

RMI. GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge Charrette. 2011. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2011-18_GSANetZero.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge Charrette |date=20 December 2011 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2011-18_GSANetZero.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2011gsa, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge Charrette}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2011}, month = dec, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2011-18_GSANetZero.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }