U.S. Senate proposes defunding Navy Yard’s Energy Efficient Buildings Hub

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed defunding the Navy Yard’s Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB) Hub, a five-year, $129 million research initiative dedicated to developing ways to make buildings more energy efficient, Newsworks reported.

From Newsworks:

Citing “poor management and failure to meet technical milestones,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called for the EEB Hub to be axed from the 2014 budget.

In its report, the Senate committee slammed the Hub — claiming “no measurable benefit” from the $55 million invested to date.

EEB Hub Director Paul Hallacher told Newsworks that the program has “indeed met [its] milestones.”

A cornerstone of the Navy Yard’s burgeoning tech community, the EEB Hub broke ground on its new headquarters last month. The organization has about 25 full-time employees and 150 part-time employees. Without the EEB Hub, will the momentum behind the Navy Yard’s tech scene skid to a halt?

Read the whole Senate report and the Newsworks story here.

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