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Meters measure utility usage

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The Tinker Energy Team is implementing a standardized industrial metering system throughout the base.

Tinker has hundreds of meters that measure water, gas and electricity usage across the base. "Some are ancient and some are modern," said Joseph Cecrle of the 76th Maintenance Support Group, energy manager for the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex.

The OC-ALC accounts for about 60 percent of the energy consumption at Tinker AFB. However, additional data is needed to determine with greater precision where high energy usage is occurring. For instance, Mr. Cecrle said, "We need to know whether the milling machines, or the heat ovens, or the air conditioning systems, are consuming the most electricity in the ALC."

Establishing a metering standard at Tinker is critical to the energy management program. "We need to be able to read meters remotely and compile that data so we can pinpoint where electricity is going," Mr. Cecrle said.

According to the 72nd Air Base Wing Civil Engineering Directorate, 180 new electric meters have been installed, and another 30 are to be installed by the end of fiscal year 2014; six new natural-gas meters have been installed, and three dozen more are scheduled to be installed next year; and 19 water meters have been replaced, with six more to be installed in FY14.

More than 100 advanced electric, steam and water meters have been installed throughout OC-ALC facilities. Meters are used to view usage, determine patterns and monitor residual energy consumption even when appliances are turned off. The advanced meters are able to collect data every 15 minutes.

The ultimate goal is for all meters to transmit their data to a central data collection system.

The meter replacement project is not cheap. A meter can cost from $3,000 to $10,000, depending on its type, its location, and various other factors, Mr. Cecrle said.

Bldg. 3705, one of the larger buildings at Tinker, recently transitioned from an estimated bill to a metered bill that enables better analysis, he added.