TOPICS
TOPICS
VA to continue work on energy efficiency
The Veterans Affairs Department has taken steps to reduce energy and water consumption in its facilities, but still has room for improvement, witnesses told a House panel on Wednesday.
"The VA has unique challenges given the fact that it runs health care centers, which have extreme demands in terms of water, air, energy and data management," said Richard Kidd, program manager of the Energy Department's federal energy management program, in testimony before the Veterans Affairs Committee. "And all this has to be done in an environment that is conducive to healing."
VA ranks sixth in energy use and third in water consumption governmentwide as a result of the types of buildings it oversees.
A particular challenge, witnesses said, is developing energy-efficient procurement practices. For instance, food and other resources when purchased as part of a large contract can't be sourced locally to reduce transportation costs and energy consumption. The department is committed to developing greener purchasing practices through a centralized procurement plan, according to James Sullivan, director of VA's Office of Asset Enterprise Management.
Witnesses also highlighted the importance of sharing information across the health care sector and evaluating energy use and existing conservation programs in facilities to avoid duplicating efforts. The department is required to assess the energy practices of 25 percent of its buildings annually to identify strengths and weaknesses.
"The key is being able to properly manage," said Tom Hicks, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council, "and to be able to properly manage you need to be able to properly measure."
VA also could look internally for solutions by engaging employees in forums to discuss and vet suggested improvements, witnesses said. The department is developing best practices for energy efficiency to distribute to employees in the next few weeks, according to Sullivan. The plan for implementing these practices will include a program that gives employees incentives to follow the recommendations, he said.
Committee members applauded the department's efforts, but cautioned officials to keep VA's mission in mind.
"The VA was allocated $405 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to accelerate critical programs to reduce the environmental footprint of the department," said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., committee chairman, in his opening statement. "We need to ensure that the very specific needs of our veterans are being met at hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, and make certain their care is not degraded or impacted by the efforts in becoming more energy efficient."
COMMENTS
- How nice. Energy efficiency. Why doesn't the VA concentrate instead on paying all those colleges they owe under the GI bill? I have a family member who is sweating it out right now and getting harassed by the college because the VA is dragging its feet on their promise. They should be ashamed - but let's have energency efficiency - yeah - THAT should be the priority! Kathy Posted October 13, 2009 1:07 PM
- I'm sure that there is no intention to stop using water at the VA, however there can be *measurable* savings from water usage and energy usage. An ability to view how much energy the HVAC is using for example and then using the right technology to reduce energy usage with no impact to occupant comfort is a possibility today. An ability to use up to 20% less water just from the right technology in the HVAC is available today, not including water-saving faucets, lighting fixtures, building envelope updates can all attribute to better 'working' buildings. And many of these updates are measurable today. One cannot know where they need to reduce waste unless they determine what they are wasting. And none of these updates should ever replace the first mission of the VA which is to keep our veterans healthy. Mickey Posted October 8, 2009 12:43 PM
- Another Clunker Program...I'm all for Green and energy savings but I think we must first decide whether we're saving any real money by installing these new ideas. First lets be sure we add all of the exspenses to the cost savings. We have already established new high paying permanent jobs within the government as well as contracted design jobs to create these energy saving ideas. These expenses are usually not calculated into the equation. A study was conducted once that showed that most companies would produce the same savings that the VA is now striving to obtain if they would only pratice good M&R (Maintenence & Repair). If the VA's M&R department would maintain their existing equipment in top working condition they would be obtaining tremendous energy savings now. Things like changing filters, tightening belts, changing motors, cleaning ducts, lubrication, etc. However the VA isn't obtaining these simple energy saving because the VA has either redirected the M&R employees or understaffed the M&R departments. It sounds good to obligate design and construction projects to spend millions of dollars to replace old equipment but I contend that this equipment will face the same lack of maintenence as the old. Initial calculations showing savings will fade and once again the saviings will never materialize. Energy savings as usual only look good on paper. SATOS Posted October 5, 2009 10:38 AM
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