**DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR IS TURNING ON TO RENEWABLE ENERGY**

David Guthrie, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Bob Jarcho, Office of Acquisition and Property Management

**[I]{.underline}**[nterior's commitment to renewable energy has made
the Department a leader among Federal Government agencies in the use of
clean, nonpolluting renewable energy technologies. Managers nationwide
continue to implement renewable energy projects, many of which have
helped to transform Interior facilities into energy showcases.
]{.underline}

[These projects not only meet the energy needs of many of Interior's
34,000 buildings, but also helped to increase public awareness. With 380
million visitors a year to its national parks, wildlife refuges,
wilderness areas, dams, and other facilities, Interior has the "power"
to reach out and educate the public about renewable energy alternatives.
]{.underline}

[In remote areas, where many Interior operations and activities are
located, electric power has historically been supplied by diesel
generators or a distant electric grid. Transporting fuel for diesel
generators by ship or over often narrow roadways posed both logistical
and environmental challenges. Electric power lines are expensive and
aesthetically intrusive.]{.underline}

[Increased interest in finding sustainable solutions that minimize waste
and damage to the environment has opened the door to the use of
renewable energy in many of the nation's remote, environmentally
sensitive areas.]{.underline}

[The National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which
together manage hundreds of millions of acres, most in the western
United States, have some of the most significant opportunities for
generating electricity from solar powered photovoltaic (PV) energy
systems. The national parks now rely on over 700 PV energy systems to
convert solar rays into electricity for power, lighting, and water
pumping. BLM resource areas have almost 300 PV energy systems to support
a wide array of applications from electric fences and resource
monitoring to water pumping and facility power. ]{.underline}

[More than 30 PV energy systems in national parks are large applications
ranging in output from 5 to 30 kilowatts (kW) of power, enough to power
from one to five small homes. The largest such system is a 160 kW PV
array at Dangling Rope Marina in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area,
Utah. Electricity from the PV system provides 50 per cent of the
marina's energy needs. The PV system and a propane power generator have
eliminated the need to transport 75,000 gallons of diesel fuel on Lake
Powell. ]{.underline}

[Several national parks utilize significant PV energy systems to power
their remote facilities instead of diesel generators or utility-supplied
electricity over a grid. Those parks include Joshua Tree, Channel
Islands, North Cascades, and Canyonlands. Pinnacles National Monument
and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore also use PV energy
systems.]{.underline}

[Channel Islands National Park, which has stewardship of five remote
environmentally sensitive islands off the coast of Southern California,
clearly demonstrates that almost all of it energy need can be met by
renewable energy technologies. The Park uses a variety of renewable
energy and energy efficient technologies for which it is nationally
recognized.]{.underline}

[Its 64 renewable energy systems include a 29.5 kW PV system and a 21.5
kW wind power system, along with several other energy efficiency
technologies. These systems support a variety of applications \--
including remote power, water pumping, resource monitoring and
communications \-- and have reduced the fueling needs by 94 per cent.
Together these systems displace the use of about 36,000 gallons of
diesel fuel a year.]{.underline}

[The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also continues to be recognized for
its leadership in the use of renewable energy. The agency has five
energy showcase facilities recognized by the Department of Energy for
their significant achievements in energy and water conservation. The
Service has installed seven geothermal heat pump systems, and an
innovative air conditioning/dehumidification system at Cabo Rojo
National Wildlife Refuge in Puerto Rico. Several offshore PV energy
systems like the ones at Tern Island National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii
and Farallon National Wildlife Refuge in California were honored by the
Department of Energy. The 6.84-kW PV energy system at Farallon, an
island 25 miles west of California's Golden Gate, provides 90 percent of
the refuge's power needs, eliminating the need for diesel to power the
old generator. The refuge is home to 250,000 nesting seabirds and five
species of marine mammals.]{.underline}

The National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West
Virginia, an energy showcase facility and Presidential Design Award
contender, is Interior's leading example of "green" building
construction with many passive solar features.

[Other Interior bureaus are committed to installing renewable energy
projects. A recent PV retrofit is operational at the Chuuk
Finance]{.underline}

[Center in Micronesia. The retrofit consists of 35 kW
absorption]{.underline}

[chiller refrigeration equipment that generates chilled water. The
system is powered by a solar array consisting of 50 high-performance,
flat-plate solar collectors.]{.underline}

[The U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Research Center
in Madison, Wisconsin also uses a large, flat-plate solar collector,
which saves 2.9 billion Btu of non-renewable energy annually, equivalent
to energy consumed in about 30 homes.]{.underline}

[If rooftop solar collectors and wind turbines are not enough, how about
"solar walls"? At the Bureau of Reclamation's Leadville Mine Drainage
Tunnel Water Treatment Facility, near Leadville, Colorado, a new
transpired solar collector (solar wall) preheats about 10,000 cubic feet
per minute of outdoor air for the 16,500-square-foot-facility's
ventilation system. It also removes a substantial (and costly) load from
the building\'s conventional heating system. ]{.underline}

[Despite critical funding limitations, Interior's energy, facility and
field station managers are committed to renewable energy technologies to
meet energy needs. They are demonstrating that most renewable energy
projects are cost-effective, have relatively short payback periods, and
provide an economical source of clean electric power in the field.
]{.underline}

Through numerous partnerships, Interior is able to find financial and
technical assistance needed to help increase the use of renewable energy
and overcome the technology-related challenges of these systems. These
partners include the Department of Energy, other federal and state
agencies, as well as energy service companies, utilities and other
private sector organizations. The Department of Energy's National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Utah
State Office of Energy and Resource Planning are three outstanding
partners that Interior managers have teamed with in their quest for
sustainable, renewable energy solutions.