The Final State of the Union
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Summary:
As part of GSA’s core responsibility of delivering savings to government agencies, GSA has awarded a contract with IBM to work with leaders in the building sciences industry to install low-cost, high-value, networked technologies in 50 of the federal government’s most energy intensive buildings.
As part of GSA’s core responsibility of delivering savings to government agencies, GSA has awarded a contract with IBM to work with leaders in the building sciences industry to install low-cost, high-value, networked technologies in 50 of the federal government’s most energy intensive buildings. This smart building strategy will connect building management systems to a central, cloud-based platform, improving energy efficiency and saving up to $15 million in tax dollars annually.
Under the terms of the contract, IBM will develop an innovative system to monitor, in real-time, building performance nationwide and stream data to a central facility. This, in turn, will give employees and building managers useful information on building operations allowing for faster analysis and more informed decision-making. Additionally, when the system is fully integrated, the buildings’ tenants and managers will be able to view the performance of their buildings on public dashboards with analysis on energy savings and recommendations on how to further increase efficiencies.
As additional federal buildings are constructed and other facilities are upgraded, those buildings will also be managed with this platform. We expect that this initiative will keep buildings performing at peak efficiency and increase cost savings across the federal portfolio.
GSA’s plan to meet the requirements of President Obama’s Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance (EO13514) includes a goal of reducing energy consumption in federal buildings by 30 percent by 2015. Smart building technology is yet another approach that GSA is taking to increase performance and decrease costs in government buildings. It’s clear that this GSA initiative will begin a new chapter in energy efficient strategies that will deliver important savings to the taxpayer.
For additional information on GSA’s smart building efforts please visit: gsa.gov/smartbuildings.
Dan Tangherlini is Acting Administrator of the General Services Administration.
