Honeywell has announced its support for President Obama’s plans to make $2 billion in efficiency-focused upgrades to federal facilities by 2016. The commitment, which the president unveiled recently, extends a similar goal set over two years ago, which led to more than a billion in improvements at government buildings and military bases—work financed and implemented with private-sector support.
In a statement from the Business Roundtable, Honeywell Chairman and CEO Dave Cote remarked: “America’s business leaders welcome the president’s increased commitment to improving energy efficiency in federal buildings. Leveraging private-sector expertise and dollars to improve energy use in federal buildings is smart policy. We stand ready to work with the Administration and Congress to implement a national strategy that ensures abundant supplies of reliable, affordable energy for America’s homes and factories.”
The work is made possible through energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs), a model in which private financing pays for projects upfront and the resulting savings, guaranteed by energy services companies like Honeywell, help repay the loan. With this approach, federal agencies can make critical improvements without additional taxpayer dollars.
The new White House goal will increase the already-impressive results of the past several years. During that time, the government identified more than 200 potential projects, which could lead to $2.7 billion in ESPCs and annual energy savings in excess of $100 million. According to the National Association of Energy Service Companies, every $10 million in guaranteed upgrades creates or sustains 95 jobs.
Honeywell has completed almost 5,700 guaranteed efficiency projects around the world, including work at more than 150 U.S. government facilities. For example, Honeywell recently launched a $61 million project to update manufacturing equipment at the Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (JMTC), which builds hardened, durable components for Army equipment. The work will generate up to $5.3 million in annual savings and cut JMTC’s energy use by approximately 35 percent, among other benefits.
Combined, all Honeywell ESPCs are expected to decrease energy and operational costs by an estimated $6 billion.