This article was originally published in the November-December 2023 issue of Pratt’s Energy Law Report and is republished here with permission.
As the nation’s largest energy consumer, the U.S. federal government plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions across its expansive portfolio of more than 350,000 federal buildings. In a pioneering move, the Biden administration and Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the Climate Smart Build-ings Initiative (CSBI). This bold initiative aims to upgrade federal buildings across the U.S. with emerging and sustainable technologies in an effort to meet the Biden administration’s Federal Building Performance Standard, which sets an ambitious goal to cut energy use and electrify equipment and appliances in 30% of the building space owned by the federal government by 2030.
The CSBI represents more than just a technology initiative; it represents a comprehensive strategy that employs public-private partnerships (P3s) to achieve its objectives. Central to this approach are two contracting models: Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) and Utility Energy Services Contracts (UESCs). This article delves deeper into the CSBI, illustrating how this ambitious initiative will facilitate an increase in P3s.