The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has formed a new interagency advisory committee designed to accelerate the deployment of innovative products and technologies in the federal sector.
The committee – called the Senior Executive Committee for Technology Deployment – features founding representatives from the DOE, the General Services Administration and the Department of Defense, including the Army and Navy – and is expected to grow.
The committee will support the transition to energy-efficient technologies, from research and development to successful commercialization, by developing consistent processes to test and evaluate innovative and underutilized technologies and share information on technology performance and economic value agency-wide, the DOE explains.
The committee's activities will be coordinated agency-wide by the DOE's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). The agencies will test and evaluate technologies that show promise of reducing energy use and saving taxpayer money in federal facilities. The new committee will review and share results from energy-related technology demonstrations with other agencies in the federal government.
When individual clean energy technologies are shown to save energy and money, agencies will work to accelerate their deployment across federal agencies, thus helping to speed their adoption in commercial markets, the DOE says. Agencies will also develop new policies, modify procurement specifications, and increase communications and outreach about these technologies to support this effort.
In addition, FEMP will facilitate agency projects by engaging energy service companies and utilities that routinely provide support to federal agencies.
