Congress is literally crumbling, its historical buildings shedding plaster even as lawmakers aim to make the legislative branch an example of energy efficiency.

The Architect of the Capitol has long struggled with a limited budget borne out of Congress' desire to appear as a paragon of fiscal restraint. This year is no different: The office's budget was cut by $33 million -- or about 5 percent -- in the fiscal 2012 omnibus, prompting hiring freezes, dimmed lights and an increasingly long list of delayed maintenance projects.

Architect Stephen Ayers has nonetheless kept Congress on track to meet energy efficiency goals. But as officials switched out old lightbulbs, installed low-flow bathroom fixtures and consolidated computer servers, House and Senate office buildings began to sprout water leaks, suffer cracks in their stone walls, and undergo numerous heating and air conditioning problems.

Now Congress faces the expense of not only renovating congressional buildings for safety, but also investing in the upgrades that will ensure the legislative branch uses far less energy than it does today.

Ayers has pegged the beginning price at $668 million in fiscal 2013, or almost 18 percent more than the AOC's current budget. That's larger than the request of any other legislative branch agency.

"As stewards of our national treasures, it is my duty to put forth a reasonable budget that I believe will best meet the need of our aging infrastructure," Ayers told lawmakers at a recent appropriations hearing. "This awesome responsibility has led me to request an increase in my budget during fiscally challenging times; and not doing so, I believe, would be irresponsible."

But his office is unlikely to get such a large increase. Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.), the House's top legislative branch appropriator, told Ayers to expect funding at this year's level or lower. Crenshaw asked agencies to review their budgets line by line to identify savings that could keep their funding levels as close to static as possible.

Such fiscal restraint has forced the AOC to make choices. The office has cut back on full-time staff and enlisted lawmaker offices to turn off unnecessary lights and equipment during hot summer days. Steps in an escalator in the Rayburn House Office Building were replaced with refurbished ones, rather than new ones that cost $500,000 more.

Reducing Congress' energy use has also required some creativity.

Last year, Congress used 19 percent less energy than it did in 2003, exceeding the 18 percent goal set in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. But that law requires a 30 percent reduction by 2016 -- as compared with 2003 -- and the "low-hanging fruit" has been picked. That leaves mostly large upgrade projects that tend to carry significant upfront costs.

The AOC has entered into several Energy Savings Performance Contracts with private companies to upgrade the Capitol Building, as well as the House and Senate office buildings. The contracts allow companies to pay for the upfront costs of energy-efficient upgrades, in return for the savings realized. It's a way to avoid asking Congress for money; to pay back the companies, AOC need only to request the same appropriation for its utility bills.

Ayers hopes to apply the same method to the Capitol Power Plant, a century-old facility that heats and cools the Capitol complex using natural gas. Gaining efficiencies at the plant is crucial to meeting Congress' energy-cutting goals -- but that will require hundreds of millions of dollars to accomplish.

Utility proposal

In his fiscal 2013 budget request, Ayers has asked Congress for permission to enter a Utility Energy Services Contract, in which a company will pay the upfront costs of transforming the Capitol Power Plant into a cogeneration facility. That would enable the plant to generate electricity and use the byproduct to heat the Capitol complex.

AOC spokeswoman Eva Malecki said the office has begin design work on the new cogeneration system. If implemented, the renovation would result in a 7.1 percent reduction in total energy consumption at the plant.

In a statement today, Crenshaw was vague on whether appropriators would green-light the plan, which Ayers also requested in last year's budget.

The power plant "plays an essential role in the Architect of the Capitol's long-term energy conservation strategy," he said. "Stephen Ayers' thorough details of the cogeneration proposal, including efforts to reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency, are helpful as we work to establish a Legislative Branch budget for the coming year."

But the cogeneration plant is far less controversial than Congress' decision to send its trash to a waste-to-energy plant. Such plants generate electricity from burning solid wastes -- a process environmentalists say creates harmful emissions and detracts from truly renewable energy.

Ayers has estimated that the process will produce enough steam and electricity to power an office building the size of the Dirksen Senate Office Building for several months. Malecki said the office is not yet counting it toward Congress' energy-reduction goals.

But environmental groups are concerned about the example Congress is setting for the rest of the country. The Environmental Integrity Project pointed to its October report that found two Maryland waste-to-energy facilities emitted more mercury and lead per hour of energy than the state's major coal-fired power plants.

Congress, the group said, should "reconsider continuing to rely on WTE as a source of energy."