The Energy Department's Federal Energy Management Program and the General Services Administration recently kicked off an initiative to bring federal buildings "closer to the goal of net-zero operation."

The program uses Energy Service Performance Contracts to pay for retrofitting buildings. Using ESPCs, private companies develop and install improvements to make buildings more energy efficient. The agency then repays the company with the money it saves from the improvements.

Tim Unruh, FEMP program manager, spoke about the effort Monday on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris from the 2011 GreenGov Symposium. He discussed how FEMP is helping to provide federal agencies with the tools, services and expertise they need to meet federally mandated energy efficiency goals.

Unruh took part in a panel about energy efficiency tools and strategies at the GreenGov Symposium.

The goal of the conference is to come up with the best ideas from the private sector and academia to green the federal government.