TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base completed a $243 million energy project in September and earned ISO 50001 recertification as part of the new energy saving improvements.
The Energy Savings Performance Contract is a continuous improvement project that began in 2016.
The ESPC has improved OC-ALC’s energy savings by 35% and Joseph Cecrle, OC-ALC energy manager, said the belief is they can reach a goal of 50% reduction within the next five years.
The project set about to upgrade aging infrastructure and equipment that used the most energy within the Department of Defense at the time. The project includes adding two new 2,000-ton chillers to the cooling system, 10 million square feet of more efficient LED lighting, smart meters to monitor and track energy consumption and compressed air retrofits.
An old high-pressure gas distribution system was replaced for safety and an old centralized steam heating plant was replaced with distributed heat systems to reduce energy use.
Those are just some of the improvements made in more than 50 buildings across base that enabled energy costs to go down $11 million from five years ago.
“This was a massive project that happened while needing to sustain production,” said Cecrle. “All the construction was completed on time, and in fully occupied buildings — that’s huge.”
Cecrle said the biggest savings came when base personnel were able to shut off the last of the steam boilers. Adding, with the boilers off for all of fiscal year 2020, the cost savings is very noticeable.
Because of the ESPC project, the OC-ALC has improved the infrastructure on industrial processes and became the first federal government organization certified with ISO 50001 in 2017.
Now, the OC-ALC has earned re-certification under the newest 2018 version of the standard. The International Organization for Standardization, a nongovernmental group composed of 162 national standards bodies, sets the ISO 50001 certification standards for energy management practices.
The energy improvements didn’t just stop at Tinker AFB. The Air Force Sustainment Center’s Ogden ALC located at Hill AFB in Utah has also earned ISO 50001 certification.
The certification provides a more sustained program structure and imposes a rigorous international energy management standard centered on continual improvement, enhancing energy, controlling costs, operations and maintenance savings and safety.
“The ISO 50001 Energy Management System certification satisfies the Air Force Sustainment Center’s Art of the Possible standard for continuous energy improvements,” said Cecrle. “Tinker at one time was the Air Force’s largest single-site energy consumer, but now we have moved to number four.
“The OC-ALC is committed to delivering the most energy efficient and cost-effective services in the Air Force,” he added.