Dorothy Robyn, deputy defense undersecretary for installations and environment, and Paul Anastas, EPA assistant administrator, signed the memorandum of understanding to establish the partnership.

Scientists and engineers from both the Pentagon and the EPA’s research and development office will collaborate to develop the technologies.

The Pentagon said the partnership allows both agencies to use military bases as testing environments for the technologies, which the Pentagon hopes to spread into civilian communities.

USDA photo

The Agriculture Department has added a new website focusing on renewable energy production, research and sustainably.

USDA said the new site summarizes how the department manages and develops renewable energy sources and includes several industry-specific tools.

An interactive map shows where the USDA provides investment support for renewable energy initiatives. A renewable energy tool provides data on national, state and county levels based on renewable energy production and demand.

USDA also added an energy matrix geared toward workers in both the public and private sectors searching for energy solution, project and program information.

“Improving and modernizing access to USDA energy data and resources is essential in today’s highly competitive rural business environment,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a release.

Vilsack also said USDA is intending to increase public awareness of the department’s energy research, commercialization of new technologies and education activities.

BNL photo

The White House is giving agencies until March of next year to submit plans to improve cross utilization of information technology services.

In a 16 -age draft released Friday, the White House set forth a rough outline for its “Shared First” strategy, which is part of the Federal Information Technology Shared Services Strategy.

Under the shared service approach, agencies are mandated to first explore IT sharing avenues, rather than initiate new developments. The White House is asking agencies to:

• Develop a shared services plan that includes at least two commodity IT areas for migration to a shared environment by Dec. 31, 2012, focusing initially on consolidation at the intra-agency level.
• Assess and benchmark existing lines of business, including current services and development of benchmark metrics.
• Develop road maps for modernization and improvement of existing services, with agencies and OMB working together to monitor progress toward these goals

The Office of Management and Budget reported annual spending on IT by the executive branch was around $80 billion in 2010 for unclassified systems and programs, roughly $35 billion more than in 2001.

“A review of over 7,000 agency IT investments submitted in fiscal year 2010 revealed hundreds of redundancies in support and commodity IT resources across the federal government,” potentially costing the government billions in savings according to the draft.

The Shared First service correlates with the government’s “Cloud First” strategy, which requires agencies to assess cloud computing first when looking into new IT investments. In addition, the cloud is expected to play an important role in the government’s cross-utilization of IT services.

The White House expects to release its final strategy document by April 2012.

Photo: greenroost.com

With three years left to cut energy use by one-third, budgetary threats and rising cost, the measure to save seems to be in rescuing money spent to light, heat and cool government buildings.

According to a report from Federal Times, green may be the way to go since fuel costs are causing spending to go up as well. The hope is that funds cut on buildings and equipment can be taken and used for unfunded green mandates.

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act calls for agencies to reduce energy use by some 30 percent and some agencies have already taken measures to do so, according to the report.

The Postal Service, for example, has established practices to act more efficiently and last year, employees saved the agency $5 million in 2010 by reducing spending on electricity and things around the office, said Federal Times.

Following others leads, the Naval Air Station in Kingsville, Texas, is attempting meet similar means by installing energy-efficient lighting and purposely examine buildings for places waste is occurring and how it can be fixed to save money.

Contractors are playing a role in the energy efficient game as well, as agencies such as the Justice Department have put them to work to reduce energy cost. However, using these measures does not create money saving value until the contract is up and the finished work creates monetary savings.

Photo: greenroost.com

The Departments of Agriculture, Energy and the Navy have entered a three-year partnership with the private sector to spur production of biofuels, President Barack Obama announced Tuesday.

The departments will invest up to $510 million to help produce drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power both military and commercial transportation. The biofuels can be used with existing fuels to power military and commercial vehicles.

The partnership is in response to a directive Obama issued in March, part of the administration’s framework to reduce dependence on foreign oil. The U.S. imports more than $300 million in crude oil annually.

Obama said the government has a role to play in reducing dependence on foreign oil, but it cannot do it alone.

“That’s why we’re partnering with the private sector to speed development of next-generation biofuels that will help us continue to take steps towards energy independence and strengthen communities across our country,” Obama said.

The White House announced both the Biofuels Interagency Work Group and Rural Council to oversee the new partnership.

Photo: shalegas.energy.gov

Energy companies should reveal the chemicals used in a drilling technique, known as fracking, that taps previously inaccessible natural gas deposits, an Energy Department advisory panel said.

The Natural Gas Subcommittee, an advisory board to Secretary Steven Chu, released its 90-day draft report Thursday on shale gas production.

The panel found hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has helped grow shale gas to nearly 30 percent of natural gas production in the U.S.

According to the AP, fracking has raised concerns over the safety of drinking water supplies. The panel said there is little risk to drinking water, but also said companies could alleviate concerns through transparency.

“While companies and regulators are moving in this direction, progress needs to be accelerated in light of public concern,” the report says.

The panel also recommended the creation of an industry organization to improve best practices and the federal government support shale gas research and development.

The panel’s final report is scheduled to be released Nov. 18.

Photo: greenroost.com

Most federal agencies have not created targets or baselines to measure green IT initiatives, a July 28 Government Accountability Office report says.

GreenBiz.com reports the federal government will spend $79 billion this year on IT, including the purchase of roughly 1 million environmentally friendly computers and monitors.

The green IT footprint is being implemented under two executive orders issued in 2007 and 2009. The GAO report, released Friday, said sustainability plans are in place at the six surveyed agencies.

However, GAO found no performance targets exist, making it impossible to measure progress any progress made.

“Without such guidance, the effectiveness of these efforts and their contribution to overall federal sustainability goals will remain unclear,” the report says.

FierceGovernmentIT reports GAO singled out the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Environmental Quality for not developing specific guidance or establishing performance measures.

GAO recommended OMB and CEQ update its green IT guidance to direct agencies in developing baselines for their goals.

Click here to read the full GAO report.

GSA Administrator Martha Johnson at the Bean Federal Center

The General Services Administration has invested $28 million into a solar roof for a federal building in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Star reports.

The Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center now has the largest array of solar panels producing electricity in the Midwest, with 6,152 SunPower solar panels on the roof producing 2 megawatts of electricity for use inside the building.

“This is the future in a green economy. It is not exotic. We see here that it is real,” GSA Administrator Martha Johnson said.

The Indianapolis project was funded with dollars from the American Recovery and Investment Act and created jobs during the year of construction to reinforce and strengthen the roof and to install the solar panels.

Last week, Johnson attended the both the Bean Federal Center groundbreaking and the groundbreaking of a geothermal project at Ball State University.

William J. Lynn III and Sharon Burke, Photo: Defense.gov

Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III unveiled the Defense Department’s new energy strategy at a Pentagon briefing yesterday, describing the plan as a way to increase energy efficiency and adapt the forces to “emerging threats.”

“Our use of energy cuts across each of these issues,” he said, according to a American Forces Press Service report. “It affects military planners, acquisition managers and the warfighters alike. The way we build energy into our operations is a core part of fighting and winning the nation’s wars.”

The Pentagon is responsible for 80 percent of the federal government’s energy use and spent $15 billion on energy last year, Lynn said.

“Not only does [energy] cost the taxpayers, it costs the warfighters,” he added. “Every dollar spent on energy use is a dollar not spent on other warfighting priorities.”

DoD’s renewed stance on energy was indicated by the Pentagon’s four-year strategic plan, the Quadrennial Defense Review, which recommended a new position focused on energy. Sharon Burke, assistant secretary of defense for operational energy plans and programs, now holds that position.

Burke, who has advocated that military energy use be considered in operational strategy, joined Lynn for the new strategy’s unveiling.

The Pentagon sent its report, Energy for the Warfighter: Operational Energy Strategy, to Congress yesterday.

Click here to read it in its entirety.

Steven Chu, Nancy Sutley and Aneesh Chopra; Photo: energy.gov, ostp.gov

Some of the administration’s biggest energy and technology players are set to announce the launch of a number of new initiatives aimed at modernizing the power grid at a White House event this morning.

“Building the 21st Century Electric Grid” details the administration’s progress on so-called “smart” grid efforts — aimed at deploying IT solutions to modernize the electrical infrastructure, bolster innovation and take strides toward clean-energy goals.

The announcement also comes along with a new report by the National Science and Technology Council.

“A 21st-century grid is essential to America’s ability to lead the world in clean energy and win the future,” said John P. Holdren, President Barack Obama’s science and technology adviser and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which released the NSTC report. “By unlocking the potential of innovation in the electric grid, we are allowing consumers and businesses to use energy more efficiently even as we help utilities provide cleaner energy and more reliable service.”

At the event, Holdren will be joined by Energy Steven Chu, federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley, among others.

The initiatives involve a number of public-private measures, including:

• $250 million in loans for smart-grid technology deployment, falling under the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utility Service, which is tasked with upgrading the electric grid in rural areas.

• The launch of Grid 21, a private-sector initiative that will give consumers better access to their energy-usage information to take advantage of new tools and services to manage their energy use and potentially save on utility bills.

The latest efforts are in addition to the $4.5 billion in grid-modernization investments funded by the 2009 Recovery Act.

Click here to watch the event live.