Govt Carbon Management Mkt Near $300m by 2017

The U.S. federal government’s demand for carbon management software is expected to grow from its current level of $36 million to $294 million by 2017, according to a new report by Pike Research.

The study, “Carbon Management in the U.S. Federal Government Sector”, examines carbon management spending by federal agencies on external software solutions and services. According to the study’s executive summary, spending by the federal government on energy use is projected to rise dramatically in 2010 to almost $29 billion, an increase of 36 percent from the more than $21 billion spent in 2009.

The federal government represents a huge opportunity for the carbon management solutions industry, with its ownership of nearly 500,000 buildings, more than 600,000 vehicles and a propensity to spend hundreds of billions for goods and services – more than $500 billion annually.

The study cited President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 requiring all federal agencies to reduce GHG emissions by 28 percent by 2010 as the primary factor driving growth in government demand for carbon management software. Some of the government’s current Tier 1 suppliers, players such as Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, CSC, IBM, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Accenture, are likely to benefit substantially from the increased demand. But with federal guidelines requiring the government to direct 23 percent of its spending toward small businesses, startups and newer players are also likely to reap considerable rewards.

Meanwhile, several major players like Hitachi are busy expanding their carbon management solutions to the private sector, and could position themselves to take advantage of government largesse.

The report predicts that, while both services and software solutions will be part of the government’s spending plans, software will make up the lion’s share of spending, at least in the first few years, what the report refers to as the “storming years.” During this period, according to the report, the process of adopting appropriate carbon solutions is likely to be somewhat chaotic and confused. However, by the end of this year, the report predicts that several of the larger U.S. agencies, like Departments of Defense and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency, will poised to deploy external carbon management solutions.