In partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy and several other partners, NASEO is calling on Congress and the Administration to fund the retrofit of thousands of federal, state, and local mission-critical facilities (e.g., healthcare, shelters, schools, water treatment, defense operations) across the United States. The multi-organization letter and proposal, “Multi-organization Letter to U.S. House and Senate Leadership on Mission Critical Facilities Resilience” identifies public-private partnerships, such as performance contracting and performance-based service contracts, as a key mechanism to address the $1 trillion backlog in public building infrastructure needs.
The focus of the proposal is $18 billion in funding through the U.S. State Energy Program to support state and local, school, university and college, and healthcare facility retrofit projects, which would include energy-saving and resilience measures.
In support of the concept, Andrew McAllister, who serves on the California Energy Commission as well as the NASEO and Alliance to Save Energy boards, penned an op-ed, “Road and Bridges, Yes. It’s also Time to Put People to Work Rebuilding Mission Critical Facilities,” for Real Clear Energy. In it, he notes that mission-critical facility renewal projects “achieve multiple benefits: creating more resilient buildings to withstand natural disasters; delivering adaptable buildings that can be converted into safe and functional emergency facilities; improving indoor air quality; enhancing power system reliability by optimizing demand and improving flexibility on the grid; and reducing carbon emissions. Did we mention they would also put hundreds of thousands of people to work in local economies across the country?”
In addition to the Alliance to Save Energy and NASEO, the proposal is led and supported by the National Association of Energy Services Companies, Federal Performance Contracting Coalition, Institute for Market Transformation, and U.S. Green Building Council.