Lights lowered at Pentagon

The Pentagon is dimming the lights in the building's common areas this month as part of an effort to reduce the building’s utility bill and motivate people to use energy more efficiently during Energy Action Month.

John Conger, acting assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment, said lighting levels in common areas throughout the building have been scaled back during weekday to the amount used on weekends.

"We care about energy at our installations and in the field, because we need energy in order to do our jobs in order to protect the country," Conger said. "However, one of the dynamics that feeds into that is we also need money to do all those things."

Conger said the Pentagon, which employs 25,000 people, has a monthly utility bill of approximately $1.5 million. By taking advantage of a natural resource and reducing the lighting, the building could save an estimated 90,000 kilowatt-hours of energy.

The move is in conjunction with President Barack Obama's executive order, in which federal agencies are adopting more sustainable operations to reduce taxpayer energy costs.