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News In Brief

Energy Department doesn’t have the energy to save energy

Melissa Kaplan Jul 8, 2010

From the department of not practicing what you preach: The New York Times reports the Energy Department has yet to advance on installing much of its own energy-saving technology , such as the light-emitting diodes it spent millions of dollars to help commercialize. The Energy Department offices has a number of reasons for not updating their lighting, including that much of it “is on very high ceilings and hard to get to.” The report that made this finding was issued by the department’s own inspector general.

Auditors visited seven Energy Department sites totaling 96 buildings, of which only two used enhanced lighting. Many of the buildings were using fluorescents light bulbs introduced 40 years ago.

Obviously the department wants to put energy into saving energy. “We are requesting people in the federal sector and the private sector to do the cost-benefit analysis and make the investment,” says Gregory H. Friedman, the department’s inspector general, who issued the report. “We should do it ourselves.”

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