DOE/EE-0310 

Strategic Resource Planning 

Leading by example, 

saving energy and 

taxpayer dollars 

in federal facilities 

Bringing you a prosperous 

future where energy is 

clean, abundant, reliable, 

and affordable 

Strategic Energy and Water Resource 

Planning for Federal Facilities 

A recent survey1 of nearly 1,000 top international executives found that strategic planning 

was the most popular scientific management tool, used by nearly 80% of the companies 

surveyed. If strategic planning is important for these companies, then why not for your site? 

Strategic planning is important for your site. Good planning leads to energy and water conservation, 

and the resulting savings get passed on to the taxpayer. In addition, it helps you convey your vision 

to others in your organization so that they can help you achieve your energy and water savings goals. 

Strategic planning means different things to different people. What should a strategic plan look like? 

Ask a regional manager, a site energy manager, a financial officer, and a field technician and odds are 

you will get four different answers. It very much depends on one’s perspective—which means that 

the process of defining what a planning document should contain is equally as important as filling 

in the details of the plan. 

experts as well as real-world experience in developing planning documents for federal sites and agencies. 

Recognizing that “one-size-fits-all” planning and fill-in-the-blank templates can be exercises with little 

long-term benefit, this document attempts to help someone about to embark on the planning process 

energy and water resource management, but the general principles outlined herein are applicable to 

all types of strategic plans. 

Legislation for Federal Agencies 

included in the planning document: 

• Energy Policy Act of 2005: Federal agencies shall, through life-cycle cost-effective measures, 

reduce the energy consumption per gross square foot by 2% per year in fiscal years 2006 

through 2015 as compared with 2003. 

• Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 436) 

• Executive Order 13221: Energy-Efficient Standby Power Devices, dated August 2, 2001 

• Presidential Directive on Energy Conservation at Federal Facilities, dated June 2001 

In addition to the source material noted above, each federal agency, as well as sub-departments, 

may have other relevant directives, instructions, and/or plans critical to the effective operation of 

responsible for helping agencies meet energy and water savings goals. 

1 Economist Magazine. News and Business Publication, April 7, 2005. 

• Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and 

Transportation Management, dated January 24, 2007 

Internet: www.eere.energy.gov/femp/ 

No portion of this publication may be altered in any form without 

prior written consent from the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and the authoring national laboratory. 
The strategic plan 

A strategic plan is simply a written document that describes 

the current operating environment, sets goals for future 

operation, and defines responsibilities for actions necessary 

to reach those goals. 

Strategic plans can be developed for any aspect of facility 

operation, including energy, water, wastewater management, 

roadmap that will guide operations decisions to obtain a 

desired outcome. A key element of the strategic plan is contingency planning, which is proactively preparing how to 

handle problems before they arise. 

Strategic plans have been done for many federal agencies. 

level, as appropriate. (See examples listed under “What does 

a strategic plan look like” later in this document.) 

Getting Commitment 

commitment has to filter down to all levels within 

strategic energy management plan is one method 

to communicate that local level of commitment. 

Financial support for planning activities also demonstrates that management views this as an important 

management is another reason why the information 

in the plan must be distilled down into clearly stated 

ideas and concepts in a good document summary. 

All strategic plans, no matter who is writing them or what 

topic they are addressing, tend to have five major elements. 

Simplistically, these can be characterized by five questions 

one could ask: 

• Where are you coming from? 

• Where are you now? 

• Where do you want to be? 

• How do you get there? 

• What do you do when problems arise? 

We will look at the contents of each element in the 

following sections. 

1. Where are you coming from? 

remember where you are coming from. In this section of 

the strategic plan, you will identify the rules that you have 

to play by that influence and define your work environment. 

requirements, whether these are federal-, state-, municipal-, 

agency-, or site-driven. Make sure you clearly understand 

and document how these elements affect what you can do, 

what you cannot do, and what you are required to do. 

Also take a hard look within your own organization to 

determine who needs to be involved in this strategic plan 

from the start. Identify the stakeholders and identify key 

players. Open lines of communication and begin to solicit 

input into the planning process. Determine if the way your 

staff is organized will create obstacles to successful planning 

and implementation, and begin to work on remedies. Begin 

to assess where the needs lie and set goals about what you 

hope to achieve. 

your environment”: 

Summary of relevant legislation, orders, and directives: 

Federal resource management programs exist primarily as 

a result of legislation, executive orders, and other agency 

directives. Many goals and performance metrics for federal 

facilities are based on or are a direct result of the same requirements. For this reason, it makes sense to include a section 

summarizing the most relevant legislation, executive orders, 

summaries including only the items specifically relevant to 

the site and/or agency resource management program. Make 

sure to include your specific agency requirements because sometimes they can differ from the federal legislation and orders. 

Summary of relevant history: Is your facility located in an 

area of the country that is facing repeated power outages, 

rolling blackouts, or other energy disruptions? Is your facility dependent on surface or ground water supplies that are 

subject to depletion? Are you vulnerable to drought? Are 

there any specific issues that impact resource management 

at your facility? 

2. Where are you now? 

Your next step is to paint a picture of where you currently are 

in terms of energy and/or water use. Start with your metered 

data to look at energy or water use patterns. Go beyond site 

total usage and try to determine usage patterns in specific 

2 — FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 
buildings, sections of your facility, or for various end-uses. 

Getting to this information could mean using sub-metered 

data, installing temporary metering, modeling, or using other 

analysis tools to estimate usage by end-use. Don’t underestimate the value of additional analysis, data collection, or 

audits. When you start looking at opportunities to make 

changes, having even rough estimates of end-uses will help 

you set goals and identify projects. 

•	 Assess current conditions of energy-and-water consuming 

equipment and processes. Look at your utility infrastructure 

and determine if the distribution system will be adequate 

for future needs. 

•	 Quantify current use, operations, costs, current condition 

of equipment. 

•	 Assess current condition of distribution system, meters, 

and other equipment. 

•	 Audit your facilities, install temporary or permanent 

metering equipment to learn how your site really operates. 

“establish baseline conditions”: 

Summary of historical usage data: Tracking energy and water 

consumption is a useful tool in monitoring the status of a 

resource management program. In addition, historical energy 

section should include a recent summary for each resource. 

-

fied summary, which may include only a few charts, depending on what the site program staff deem most appropriate. 

Summary of Utility Info ­

rent resource tariffs and incremental rates for all site energy 

sources, such as electricity demand and consumption, natural 

reference source and date should also be documented. 

Summary of Projects 

energy and water projects have been done in the past, how 

they were funded, and what savings has been achieved. 

Also, list planned and future projects. If your installation 

has a specific financing mechanism (e.g., Energy Savings 

Performance Contract or Utility Energy Services Contract), 

document the contract and process as well. 

In the absence of building-level utility data, there are a variety of energy modeling tools that would allow allocation of 

utility usage to buildings or even end-uses within buildings. 

Without knowing specifics about where energy and water 

are used in a facility, determining where savings opportunities exist can be difficult. An energy model can help a site 

allocate a “master meter” to many uses. 

Even when you are fortunate enough to have building-level 

metering, that may not be enough detail to understand how 

a specific building is performing. Without going to the effort 

of energy modeling, a building’s performance can be evaluated 

through a process called “benchmarking.” Benchmarking 

Who Should Do Your Strategic Planning? 

So your organization needs to develop a strategic plan, but who really has the time? Your team has intimate knowledge of 

the site and its unique needs, but thinking long term may be a shift in the way you normally operate. Do you do it yourMeasures In-House Staff Outside Organization 

Has detailed site-specific knowledge Absolutely Learning curve 

Has the time to devote to the task Already has many responsibilities 

Has experience in developing 

strategic plans 

May have some knowledge of how this 

should be done 

Has experience developing plans to 

meet specific needs 

Costs May be a burden on staff resources Must find funding for external group 

Brings a fresh perspective May tend to focus on detail May tend to focus on the big picture 

Knows what has worked at other sites Will have to network to see what other 

have done 

Can bring lessons-learned from 

experience at other sites 

FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM — 3 
involves organizing buildings into similar groups (e.g., all 

medium-sized admin facilities with no labs) and calculating 

an “energy use intensity” (EUI) in energy use per square foot. 

Buildings with high EUIs compared to other similar buildings 

are the ones that should be addressed first (see chart below). 

It is also profitable to chart a building’s EUI over time to see 

if energy performance has degraded over the years. 

Remember, the more detail you can glean from existing 

data, the easier it will be to identify savings opportunities 

and set performance goals. 

3. Where do you want to be? 

At this point, you probably have an idea where you want 

to be, but it’s time to get specific in laying out how to get 

•	 Identify potential projects and set goals. 

•	 Assess the future—mission changes, expansion, demolition, infrastructure changes. 

•	 Identify potential projects, both short term and longer term. 

•	 Set goals for conservation and/or operations improvements. 

Specific performance goals. For example, is your goal to 

reduce energy consumption at your facility by 35% by the 

year 2010 in accordance with EO13123? (Hopefully, you 

do have this goal or something like it. Executive Order goals 

are issued at the agency level and typically flow down to the 

site level. Your site may be able to save even more than the 

35% goal your agency is charged with in EO13123.) Do you 

have a goal to recycle or reuse 100% of your wastewater by 

2020? Are there other sustainability or greening goals you 

wish to implement? 

Goals-setting can be a tricky process. If all your goals are 

easily achievable, it doesn’t really have much value. On the 

other hand, if all your goals are so far-reaching, you may never 

of a few short-term goals that will be achievable with some 

amount of work, mixed together with some longer-term goals 

that may be very difficult to achieve but will push your organization to transform itself into something better. 

Evaluating Progress 

Once you determine current conditions and begin to move 

forward, there should be some mechanism to measure progress toward your goals. Certainly, charting energy use intensities or simply dollars or Btu’s saved can be an indicator 

of progress. However, these don’t allow you to characterize 

improvements to specific areas within your organization. To 

do this you need to develop a “scorecard”—a kind of rating 

your organization that affect the way you manage utilities. 

For example, the scorecard on the next page is adapted from 

the Carbon Trust, a non-profit organization in Great Britain 

their goal through a number of mechanisms, including energy 

efficiency through strategic planning. In this scorecard, a site 

can measure which parts of an organization are performing 

at a high level and which parts need to move forward. Such 

a scorecard method should not be used as part of a one-timeonly activity; but rather should be used on a regular basis to 

chart progress. A scorecard provides an overall picture of 

your organization, but should not take the place of stated 

goals, with assigned responsibility and completion dates. 

4 — FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 
Priority 

4 

3 

2 

1 

0 

Policy 

10 

Energy policy, 

action plan, and 

regular review 

have commitment 

of top local management as part 

of an operating 

strategy. Local 

policy consistent 

with regional 

and headquarters 

policy. 

Formal local 

energy policy but 

no active commitment from top 

local management. Minimal 

involvement from 

regional or headquarters office. 

Unadopted 

energy policy set 

by local management. Informal 

guidelines communicated by 

regional and 

headquarters 

office. 

An unwritten set 

of guidelines by 

local management. 

No guidelines 

communicated by 

regional or headquarters office. 

No explicit policy 

set by local site 

management. 

Organization 

10 

Energy management fully integrated into 

management 

structure. Clear 

delegation of 

responsibility 

for energy 

consumption. 

Energy manager 

accountable to 

energy committee 

representing all 

users. 

Energy manager 

in post, reporting 

to ad-hoc committee, but line 

management and 

authority unclear. 

Energy management the parttime responsibility 

of someone with 

only limited 

authority and 

influence. 

No energy management or any 

formal delegation 

of responsibility 

for energy use. 

Accounting & Operations & Project Awareness Training Information Maintenance Investments Systems 

10 10 20 15 25 

Channels of com- All energy users Proactive mainte- Comprehensive Positive discrimimunication regu­ receive specific nance program. system sets targets, nation in favor 

larly exploited by energy training Most energy monitors con- of green schemes 

energy manager integrated into consumers, sumption, with detailed 

and energy staff other develop- equipment and identifies faults, appraisal of all 

at all levels. Pro­ ment activities. processes, subme­ quantifies savings, new construction 

active local and Workshops facili­ tered, efficiencies and provides bud- and retrofit 

national awards tate a sharing of monitored for get tracking. opportunities. 

and recognition knowledge. deviations. 

program supported. 

Energy commit- Key energy users Predictive mainte- Monitoring and Life-cycle cost 

tee used as main receive regular and nance program. targeting reports effective projects 

channel together specific training. Efficiency of for individual areas pursued using 

with direct con- Brief awareness major energy based on sub- conventional and 

tact with major alternative fundusers. Program 

training provided consumers metering, but savto all energy users. monitored. ings not effectively ing mechanisms. 

of staff awareness reported to user. 

and regular publicity campaigns. 

Occasional award 

nominations 

prepared. 

Contact with Key energy users Preventive main- Monitoring and Investment using 

major users short-term paythrough ad hoc 

receive awareness tenance program. targeting reports 

training, also EMCS features based on supply back criteria only. 

committee occasional system- used to monitor meter data. Energy Primary reliance 

chaired by senior specific training. equipment perfor­ unit has ad hoc on appropriations 

manager. Some mance. involvement in as a funding 

ad hoc staff budget setting. mechanism. 

awareness training. Ad hoc 

awards and recognition process. 

Informal contacts Key employees Primary reliance Cost reporting Only low-cost, 

between engineers participate occa­ on scheduled based on invoice no-cost measures 

and a few users. sionally in aware- maintenance data. Engineer taken. 

Informal contacts ness training. activities. Few compiles reports 

used to promote major energy for internal use 

energy awareness. 

Some information 

passed informally consumers within technical 

Ad hoc award to energy users. monitored. department. 

process. 

No promotion of Energy users rely Equipment No information No investment 

energy awareness, on their existing repaired on fail- systems. No in increasing 

energy efficiency, knowledge. ure. No specific accounting energy efficiency 

or energy man- monitoring of for energy at the site. 

agement. No large energy consumption. 

awards and recog­ consumers. 

nitions program 

supported. 

Adapted from the U.K.’s Carbon Trust Initiative, http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/Publications/GPG306.pdf 

Scorecard for Assessing Progress Toward Goals 

FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM — 5 
4. How do you get there? 

to be done (by whom and by when)? What might happen 

(to whom and with what consequences)? And because the 

future is changing, your strategic plan also has to change. 

Strategic planning is a process of analyzing current conditions, 

defining how they should be, determining how to get there, 

and identifying what to do when certain things happen. As 

part of the on-going process, a document called a strategic 

plan is created. But remember that the document is a single 

outcome of the process, not the end result. It should not 

be a one-time activity, but periodically revisited. It is a 

way to identify and focus on potential projects and stimulate thought around setting goals. 

How do you plan to get from where you are to where you 

want to be? We have already discussed goals, but these need 

to be set into motion by defining actions to move forward. 

Developing a roadmap can help organize individual actions 

under strategies to chart a path forward. 

planning process should be iterative—that is, periodically 

you should look at your progress toward goals and adjust 

if necessary. Setting smaller performance metrics will help 

you chart your progress. Performance metrics can be as 

basic as “redesign service request form” to as aggressive as 

“reduce utility costs 2% per year.” Each defined action 

should have a means to determine if it has been successfully implemented. 

5. What do you do when problems arise? 

When unplanned, but foreseeable problems arise, you should 

already know what your response will be. Your strategic plan 

should include proactive contingency plans that define how 

triggers drive mitigation actions into motion, what those 

actions will be, and who the point-of-contact is for different 

events. Good contingency plans typically include the formation 

of core teams that are responsible for responding to these problems, which often require training and advance coordination. 

What events should you plan for? Contingency planning 

can include: 

• Drought 

• Natural disasters 

• Emergency outages or curtailments 

• Terrorist threats 

• Mission change 

exist in other forms or within other organizations (such as 

state or local government), simply reference the alternate 

contingency plan in your planning document, recognize its 

authority, and summarize your organization’s responsibilities. 

Know what to do when things happen, even before things 

happen. Be proactive, not reactive. 

a single outcome of the process, not 

the end result. 

Strategic plan format 

viewed as a static document, but rather one that is updated 

frequently. At a minimum, the document should be updated 

annually to include up-to-date utility data, cost information, 

and personnel responsibilities. 

important issues of your energy and water programs that 

of the strategic energy and water management plans should 

be brief and focused and should include only material that 

is directly relevant to utilities management. All supporting 

information that technical staff may desire needs to be placed 

in an appendix and referenced appropriately. 

2 template is a good example of how planned action is “rolled up” 

Energy Management Plan is an example of a plan at the 

regional, rather than agency or site, level.3 Another example 

of a site management plan (this one for water only) is the 

Fort Buchanan Water Management Plan.4 An additional 

site-specific strategic plan is the Fort Lewis Installation Sustainability Plan.5 A select number of goals should be identified for each of the key target areas. A select number of 

2 https://energy.navy.mil/publications/businessplan/DON_Shore_Business_Plan_Final.pdf as of September 20, 2005. 

3 http://www.nrel.gov/docs/gen/fy05/36393.pdf as of September 20, 2005. 

4 http://eere.pnl.gov/femp/publications/StrategicEnergyManagementPlan-FtBuchanon.pdf as of September 20, 2005. 

5 Discussed at http://www.energy2005.ee.doe.gov/pdfs/lsp_s2a.pdf as of September 20, 2005. 

6 — FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 
strategies should be identified that will support the accomplishment or progress toward 

specific actions be assigned to support each 

strategy (and detailed in the appendix) with 

a specific person assigned responsibility. 

Furthermore, each goal should have one 

or more performance metrics developed 

or identified that can be used to illustrate 

figure on the right illustrates how a plan 

can be constructed to roll-up details. 

described above. Assume a federal agency 

site has identified “Management” as a key 

focus area within its strategic plan. Under 

that focus area, the energy manager has 

identified the goal to “broaden knowledge 

and general awareness of energy manage­

-

fied under the management focus area. To 

support the goal identified above, one strategy may be to “provide training in energy 

management and energy engineering to the 

facilities’ engineering and operations and 

maintenance (O&M) staff.” Another strategy may be to 

“provide energy awareness and energy conservation training 

to general office staff.” In support of the first strategy listed 

above, the strategic plan could identify several specific 

actions items, such as “train O&M staff on energy-efficient 

procedures through the FEMP O&M training workshop.” 

Another action item might include, “provide energy management training from a nationally recognized provider to 

engineering staff.” Performance metrics for this goal could 

include number of trained staff, number of training staffhours, and/or number of certified energy managers. 

Strategic 

Energy Plan 

Example of Strategic Planning Process. 

Focus Area 1 

Goal #1 

Action Item #1 

Action Item #2 

Goal #2 

Focus Area 2 Action Item #3 

Goal #3 

Focus Area 3 Action Item #4 

Goal #4 

Action Item #5 

Conclusion 

At some point, you may be required to develop a strategic 

energy plan for your organization. Take this as an opportunity to really get to know your facility and think about the 

future needs of the facility. 

So what will your plan look like? Chances are pretty good 

that a template or other statement of requirements from 

your organization will govern your plan. It is your job to 

work within existing requirements and still craft a plan 

that is both informative and useful to your organization. 

Remember, the goal is to create a document that is used, 

not just put on the shelf to satisfy some requirement. 

FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM — 7 
FEMP Help Desk: (800) 363-3732 

International callers please use (703) 287-8391 

Web Site: www.eere.energy.gov/femp 

For More Information 

Energy2005 hosted two speakers focused on strategic energy planning in the Leadership, Strategies, and Performance track, Strategic Energy Management Session, including presentations on 

the development of the GSA Region 10 Strategic Energy Management Plan and the Fort Lewis 

http://www.energy2005. 

ee.doe.gov/lsp.cfm#lsps2. 

presentations can be found at: http://www.energy2004.ee.doe.gov/tracks-ppl.htm. 

http://www.aeecenter.org/realtime/SEP/. 

be found at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/tribalenergy/guide/strategic.html. 

References 

Department of Navy Shore Energy Business Plan. 2001. Navy/Marine Corps Energy Efficiency. 

Economist Magazine. News and Business Publication, April 7, 2005. 

General Services Administration. Strategic Energy Management Plan. Region 10. 2005. 

T. Austin. September 2005. “Fort Lewis Installation Sustainability Program.” Presented at 

Energy2005, Long Beach California. 

W.D. Chvala, K.L. McMordie-Stoughton, and G.P. Sullivan. January 2004. Water Management 

Plan for Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, PNNL-14533, Prepared by the Pacific Northwest National 

Laboratory for U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 

Federal Energy Management Program. 

Disclaimer 

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RenewabSe Energy, FederaS Energy Management Program. NLPther the UUP[ed States Government

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For More Information 

EERE Information Center 

1-877-EERE-INF or 

1-877-337-3463 

www.eere.energy.gov/femp 

General Program Contact 

Shawn Herrera 

Project Manager 

Federal Energy Management

 Program 

U.S. Department of Energy 

1000 Independence Ave., SW 

Washington D.C. 20585 

Phone: (202) 586-1511 

Fax: (202) 586-3000 

shawn.herrera@ee.doe.gov 

Technical Contacts and Authors 

William Chvala 

Phone: (509) 372-4558 

Fax: (509) 375-3614 

E-mail: william.chvala@pnl.gov 

Mark Halverson 

E-mail: halversonm@battelle.org 

Produced for the U.S. Department 

of Energy, Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, by the Pacific 

Northwest National Laboratory 

DOE/EE-0313 

September 2006