DOE FEMP First Thursday Seminar
Achieving Energy Security in Federal
Buildings
Learner Guide
Short Description
Achieving Energy Security in Federal Facilities builds competency in protecting critical missions by
integrating energy security measures into all aspects of operations. Employ critical principles, such as
diversity, redundancy, reducing demand, planning, and emergency management as you consider energy
security. Consider technologies that support energy security and develop an understanding of key issues
related to short- and long-term energy disruptions, including storage and maintenance issues.
This course is offered live on May 3, 2012 and archived for 24/7 viewing after the live training event.
Core Competency Areas Addressed in the Training
Energy/Sustainability Managers, Facility Managers
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Building Systems
Building Technologies
Energy Analysis
Industry Trends
Energy Systems (DER, microgrid)
Operating Engineers/Building Technicians
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Building Systems
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Expected Results for Those Completing this Training
Develop plans to maintain mission-critical activities in the event of disruption in energy systems and/or
infrastructure
Energy Security Resources
The FEMP web page for Energy Security:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/program/energy_security.html
There will be an Energy and Water Security Track at Gov Energy 2012
http://www.govenergy.com/Index.aspx
Checklist
The following checklist may help shape your thinking when designing an energy security plan for your
site or facility.
Backup/supplemental power
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Do you have security for the backup power?
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What type?
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Is there a strategy for protecting this?
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How is this integrated into your OpSec?
Identify security threats from both internal and external threats?
Renewables
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Have you considered how to protect these assets?
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Physical, IT, safety, environmental
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These issues are just being addressed
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How well are you set up to handle problems with your renewables as it relates to impact on the
grid if there are failures?
Islanding/Anti-islanding
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How does your facility operate during peak loads?
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Do you still have the capacity to operate when the grid is down?
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What provision have you made to ensure it really works?
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When was your last test?
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How often do you test this scenario?
Planning
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Comprehensive planning of energy system to actually protect them (vandals, varmints, victims)
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Be sure that you KNOW your mission before planning
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Where is the most recent copy of your emergency/disaster plan?
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When was it last updated?
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How close are you to the general population?
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What municipalities are you close to?
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Do you have regular contact with them?
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Do they know how to contact you?
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How often do you strategize about energy emergencies?
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What are the mission needs?
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Do you and the team understand them?
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Planning
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Long-term/short-term
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Cold weather/warm weather
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Do the seasons change your emergency planning?
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How much fuel is kept for backup operations?
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Spare parts?
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What is the first call you make if the power goes down? Catastrophe occurs?
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Who is it?
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The number?
Who comprises your planning team?
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Glossary of Terms
CHP - Combined heat and power. The use of an engine or power station to simultaneously produce
electricity and useful heat.
Critical infrastructure - embraces the physical and computer-based systems that enable the U.S.
government and economy to function. Elements of our infrastructure include transportation services
(interstate highways, railways, waterways, and airports), as well as energy and water systems. Important
also are the electronic networks used for these infrastructure components and also for banking and
finance, telecommunications, and emergency services.
Cyber Security - Preventing damage to, unauthorized use of, or exploitation of electronic information
and communications systems and the information contained therein to confidentiality, integrity,
and availability. Cyber security also includes restoring electronic information and
communications systems in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster.
Distributed generation - smaller sources of generation scattered throughout the system and located
closer to the end user (as opposed to large centralized generation)
Distribution - Medium-voltage distribution lines move power from substations to the customer premise,
where it is stepped down to lower voltages (typically 220v or 110v).
DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) as it leads national efforts to modernize
the electric grid, enhance security and reliability of the energy infrastructure, and facilitate recovery
from disruptions to energy supply
Domestic resilience - domestic ability to respond to disruptions in energy supply such as fuel stocks.
Domestic risks - risks arising in connection with domestic production and transformation of energy
Energy Assurance Technologies - Any technology that can be applied to a key asset of to assure the
continuity of essential functions and services during an energy disruption. Examples include
microturbines, fuel cells, energy efficiency measures, renewable technologies, UPS systems, satellite
communications systems, and backup generation technologies.
Energy infrastructure - includes coal and uranium mines, oil and gas wells, oil and gas pipelines,
petroleum refineries, electric transmission lines, and power plants (including hydroelectric dams), as
well as information technologies that operate these systems.
Energy security - refers to a resilient energy system. This resilient system would be capable of
withstanding threats through a combination of active, direct security measures—such as surveillance
and guards—and passive or more indirect measures-such as redundancy, duplication of critical
equipment, diversity in fuel, other sources of energy, and reliance on less vulnerable infrastructure.
Energy Security can be described as ”the uninterrupted physical availability at a price which is
affordable, while respecting environment concerns”. International Energy Agency
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Energy storage -storing energy for later use via batteries, capacitors, compressed air, flywheels, fuel
cells or pumped storage. Typically, the use of this term implies storage large enough to have an impact
on the grid.
External resilience - ability to respond to disruptions of energy by substituting with other supplies or
supply routes
External risks - risks associated with the potential disruptions of energy imports
Generation -converting energy into electricity, typically in large central facilities. Roughly 95% of all U.S.
electricity is generated in centralized plants. In the U.S., coal is the most common fuel, followed by
natural gas and nuclear.
Islanding - temporary isolation with selective sustained local power
loads, regardless of the aggregated generation capacity or the grid interconnection. Refers to
community-scale infrastructure built to automatically island itself from the big grid during outages and
reattach when power comes back.
Microgrid -an electrical system that includes multiple loads and distributed energy resources that can be
operated in parallel with the broader utility grid or as an electrical island.
Resilience - the ability of a national energy system to cope with disruptions.
Storage - a general term for a variety of power storage technologies, including pumped storage, fuel
cells, batteries, flywheels, and more.
System-wide resiliency – improving the ability to continue service delivery despite limited
infrastructure failures or external supply disruptions – rather than focusing exclusively on infrastructure
protection or disruption prevention
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