360 º PERSPECTIVE ON FEDERAL DEEP ENERGY RETROFITS

The GSA's National Deep Energy Retrofit (NDER) program demonstrated that deep energy retrofits can achieve significantly higher savings than typical federal projects, with Round 1 projects averaging 38% energy savings compared to 21% in other agencies. The report details a collaborative workshop held in April 2014 to identify process improvements, technical barriers, and economic strategies to reach the goal of 50% or more energy savings. Key recommendations include adopting integrative design, incorporating operations and maintenance (O&M) into performance contracts, and combining energy efficiency upgrades with appropriated renovation funds.

• The GSA's NDER program achieved significantly higher energy savings than other federal agencies; 10 GSA ESPC projects averaged 38% savings, while 33 projects from other agencies averaged 21%.
• Deep energy retrofits aim for energy savings exceeding 50% through integrative design and analysis, providing 'deep retrofit value' that includes reduced absenteeism, improved employee health, and increased building value beyond simple energy cost reductions.
• Analysis of NDER Round 1 projects indicates that energy savings are not statistically related to utility costs, baseline energy use intensity, building age, or the amount of one-time savings.
• Critical success factors for achieving deep retrofits include selecting buildings that have not had recent retrofits, strong agency emphasis, thorough audits, and an integrative design approach that reduces building loads before downsizing major systems.
• The Preliminary Assessment (PA) phase is often inaccurate, with final project paybacks typically being longer than those projected during the PA stage.
• Integrating operations and maintenance (O&M) into whole-building performance contracts is a major untapped opportunity, as O&M savings can sometimes exceed energy cost savings, though current GSA small business contracting requirements create a barrier.
• To improve project economics, the report suggests a dual contract process that combines energy efficiency upgrades with appropriated renovation funds, coordinated by a dedicated project manager to align incentives and manage risk.
• ESCOs are often hesitant to propose innovative technologies due to fears of project delays, despite GSA requests for innovation; solutions include using mock-ups and collaborative workshops.

APA

Carmichael, C., Chan, C., McClurg, C., Miller, D., Porst, K., Rader, B., Schiller, C., & Torbert, R. (2014). 360 º PERSPECTIVE ON FEDERAL DEEP ENERGY RETROFITS. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2014-28_360PerspectiveonFederalDeepEnergyRetrofit.pdf

Chicago

Carmichael, Cara, Coreina Chan, Chris McClurg, Doug Miller, Kinga Porst, Bodhi Rader, Craig Schiller, and Roy Torbert. 360 º PERSPECTIVE ON FEDERAL DEEP ENERGY RETROFITS. RMI, 2014. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2014-28_360PerspectiveonFederalDeepEnergyRetrofit.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{carmichael2014360, author = {Carmichael, Cara and Chan, Coreina and McClurg, Chris and Miller, Doug and Porst, Kinga and Rader, Bodhi and Schiller, Craig and Torbert, Roy}, title = {{360 º PERSPECTIVE ON FEDERAL DEEP ENERGY RETROFITS}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2014}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2014-28_360PerspectiveonFederalDeepEnergyRetrofit.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }