Pacific Southwest Research Station

Pacific Southwest Research Station
800 Buchanan Street
West Annex Building
Albany, CA 94710-0011

(510) 559-6300

PSW Energy and Fuel Conservation Initiative

Background

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, President Bush issued a memorandum on 26 September 2005 to the heads of executive departments and agencies regarding energy and fuel conservation. To assure adequate supplies of energy and to set an example for energy conservation, the President directed all federal agencies to conserve natural gas, electricity, and diesel fuel to the maximum extent feasible. The President directed that non-essential travel be curtailed and encouraged employees to carpool, telecommute, and use public transportation. He further requested federal agencies to conserve natural gas and electricity by shifting demand schedules off peak hours, and to use energy efficient appliances and products.

USFS Chief Bosworth followed this with a 18 October 2005 letter to Forest Service employees reiterating the President's directives and adding specific and detailed instructions for all Forest Service units to conserve energy, reduce non-essential travel, improve fleet energy standards, adopt bio-fuels, increase green-power purchasing and contracting, and promote telecommute and work-at-home options. Chief Bosworth ended his letter by reiterating that "This goal is important not only as a response to the challenges posed by Katrina and Rita, but also because it meets the on-going need to minimize the environmental footprint of Forest Service operations and because it will help us save valuable resources that can be directed to higher priority work. I ask each line officer to pay attention to this effort."

Recognizing the directives from the President and Chief, and the larger responsibilities to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse-gas emissions, and non-renewable fuel dependencies, PSW Station Director Jim Sedell endorsed a PSW station effort on energy and fuel conservation, an action mirrored for the PSW Region by Regional Forester Bernard Weingardt. In an Earth Day letter, 22 April 2006, Sedell and Weingardt announced a joint PSW Station and Regional Energy Initiative.

In so doing, PSW joins other ongoing, nascent, and planned federal and private efforts whose goals are to work toward energy solutions for finite natural resources. Federal opportunities, incentives, and resources for green power and energy conservation abound, but often are lost within the morass of administrative detail. While other departments (e.g., USDI) and agencies (e.g., National Park Service) have progressed significantly in implementing green-power programs, the USDA and USFS have lagged. We hope that local and regional efforts such as ours will catalyze enthusiasm within USFS circles as well.

While other PSW projects may develop, this PSW Energy and Fuel Conservation Intranet Website and associated email distribution list serve in the interim as a hub for station activities. Several station employees have taken a lead to develop the initial site as a pilot, and we post it in a spirit of collaborative learning. We know there must exist considerable knowledge and experience in the PSW community on these topics, and we encourage contributions from all employees towards making the site more useful.

Direct comments to:
Station Project & Content: Connie Millar, Albany, cmillar@fs.fed.us
Web Design & Maintenance: Diane Delany, Albany, ddelany@fs.fed.us