Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Department of Energy Left the Lights On

Topline: Most Americans are in the habit of shutting off the lights when they leave a room to save money on their bill. But one of the highest electric bills in the U.S. in 2010 belonged to the Department of Energy itself, which charged taxpayers $190 million for its office lighting.

The DOE was the second-highest user of energy

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.

Coburn’s Wastebook 2010 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $11.5 billion, including the money spent on the Department of Energy’s electricity — which would be worth $274 million today.

Key facts: The DOE is responsible for making sure other federal agencies are using energy efficiently, but in 2010 it used more electricity than every agency besides the Postal Service.

An inspector general report at the time said the DOE could save $2.2 million by turning off the lights, enough to power 3,200 homes.

The DOE was still installing inefficient fluorescent bulbs in many of its offices, including some bulbs from the 1970s.

Employees could have used the LED lights they were advising American families to purchase to save energy. They also could have used the “spectrally enhanced lighting” that DOE scientists themselves helped invent to reduce energy consumption by 50 percent, but those were installed in only two of the 96 buildings auditors inspected, according to the report.

Lead by example!

The report noted that in 1997, the DOE had installed a timer system to automatically shut its lights at night. But as of 2010, they still hadn’t purchased the control unit needed to use the system.

The federal government’s energy consumption declined slightly over the next few years. The Department of Defense accounts for most of it: 62% of federal energy use is for vehicles and equipment, and 90% of that is for the DOD’s jet fuel.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

Summary: If the Department of Energy is tasked with bringing power to the entire country, it should at least be able to keep its own electric bill down.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.