Obama's Memorandum on Energy Management

Late last week, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum directing federal agencies to derive at least 20% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.  That’s double the current level!  The President included some necessary steps and also instructed agencies to incorporate Green Button data standard into their practices.

In case you didn’t spend all weekend reading the full memorandum, here are the highlights:

• 20% by 2020. This is the ultimate goal, however, the plan requires a few interim goals including a 10% target by 2015.

• So how do we get there? Beyond just delivering the targets, Obama offered a number of approved actions including installing renewable energy on-site and purchasing renewable energy certificates.

• Energy Efficiency as well. In addition to the renewable goals, Obama also instructed agencies to take measures such as installing energy and water meters, and then publicly disclosing the benchmark data.

• Green Button Initiative & Progress.  In order to improve the agencies’ ability to understand and manage consumption, Obama wants all agencies to supply Green Button data.  In case you haven’t been following Green Button - it is an industry-driven response to a White House Initiative to provide utility customers with an easy way to access their own usage data.  As of today, 48 utilities servicing 60 million businesses and homes have committed to Green Button.  Of these, 42 million homes and businesses already  have access to their Green Button data.