Energy Team achieves AoP goals Published Dec. 20, 2013 By Mike W. Ray Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The Tinker Energy Team was the only group that achieved its Art of the Possible goal among the organizations that reported AoP metrics in Fiscal Year 2013, announced Col. Stephen Wood, vice commander of the 72nd Air Base Wing. The Energy Team shaved the base's electricity bills by $2.6 million this year. Because of an emphasis on conservation, energy bills at Tinker AFB -- the largest energy user in the Air Force -- fell by 5.25 percent this year compared to last year, records show. Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfield, Air Force Sustainment Center commander, set a goal of reducing energy consumption across the AFSC by 5 percent each year. Tinker also reduced its water usage to slightly over three-quarters of a billion gallons, which was 7.3 percent less than base water consumption last year. This resulted in a cost avoidance of $160,000, ledgers reflect. Credit for the savings is attributed to myriad improvements and practices, said Joseph Cecrle of the 76th Maintenance Support Group, energy manager for the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, and Russell Jennings of the 72nd ABW Civil Engineering Directorate. According to Mr. Cecrle, 40 percent of the overall savings occurred in Bldg. 9001, where FY13 utility bills were shaved by 13 percent compared to FY12. Similarly, Bldg. 3113 won the three-month summer "Off We Go Energy Reduction Competition" by reducing electricity usage 16 percent from last summer. The Tinker Energy Team is comprised of the combined efforts of the 72nd ABW/CE energy office, OC-ALC energy team members, and others such as the 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker and the 38th Cyberspace Engineering Installation Group who are actively working energy-related issues. The Energy Team has developed a comprehensive list of potential energy-reduction projects that range from capital improvements, equipment replacement and building renovations to simply rearranging shop layouts. To illustrate, one proposal is to install a new ventilation control system in Bldg. 3225. The controls will enable the system to be adjusted to meet the process requirements for painting operations as needed, rather than the existing controls which require the system to run 24 hours every day. Also envisioned is integrating building and industrial utility controls into a uniform system. The Energy Team is working with the 38th CEIG and the AFSC to standardize the network architecture for such a system. Lighting Retrofit The 76th Maintenance Support Group replaced 150 metal halide high-bay light fixtures in Bldg. 3001 with energy-efficient light emitting diode fixtures in May. The group also installed more than 730 new, cost-efficient LED light fixtures in Bldg. 9001, Mr. Cecrle said. The LED fixtures in Bldg. 3001 cost $70,000, or a little under $467 apiece, while the metal halide fixtures cost about half as much: $37,500. However, the rated life of the LED lights is 60,000 hours, three times longer than the metal halide lights. Considering the annual savings on energy (116,400 kilowatt hours) and on maintenance, the LED fixtures will pay for themselves in just three years, Mr. Cecrle calculated. In addition, the retrofit doubled illumination in the cable-and-harness shop: from 25 to 30 foot-candles to an average of 60 fc. (A foot-candle is a measurement of illumination one foot from a uniform point-source of light.) Also, the Color Rendering Index is slightly higher with the LED fixtures, which has improved the ability of workers to distinguish colors. The lighting retrofit project was financed entirely with government funds. HVAC Control One energy-saving achievement that occurred this year was the adjustment of heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls at four locations in Bldg. 3001: the Commodities Maintenance Group and the Maintenance Support Group's second- and third-floor offices above the "Lunch Bowl," the Liberty Conference Room, the ALC front office complex, and the Propulsion Maintenance Group mezzanine. "We modified the electronic schedulers in those areas to match the occupancy times," Mr. Cecrle said, which reduced the operational times for the four systems. "Now the HVAC systems in those areas run about 40 percent of the time instead of all the time." Steam Decentralization Program The largest domestic energy retrofit project in the Air Force is being performed at Tinker through a public-private partnership. The project began a year ago and is ahead of schedule. The project ultimately will remove 56 buildings from the base's steam grid and thereby reduce water consumption by almost 20 million gallons annually, will reduce natural-gas usage by about 30 percent, and will lower annual carbon dioxide emissions by 60 million pounds, officials reported. Tinker has reduced its water consumption by 25 percent from a 2007 federally mandated baseline, and has curtailed its energy consumption by 22 percent since 2003. Nevertheless, Tinker remains the biggest energy consumer in the Air Force. The $80.6 million Energy Savings Performance Contract will improve the energy efficiency in 70 buildings across the base, will decentralize three steam plants at Tinker and will improve a fourth steam plant. The ESPC is expected to conserve enough energy to power 12,424 "average" homes each year. As part of its contract, Honeywell is installing several meters for measurement and verification of water consumption. The ESPC is a partnership among Tinker, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Honeywell. The private company, after consulting with the DOE, is designing and constructing improvements intended to save energy. The company secured a bank loan and is using the proceeds to make the improvements at Tinker; the federal government, in turn, is reimbursing the contractor with savings from the ESPC. Honeywell has guaranteed that its improvements will generate energy cost savings sufficient to pay for the project over the 23-year term of the contract. Power Usage Reduction A pair of Utility Energy Service Contract projects are expected to start at Tinker in FY14. In the UESC, Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. will provide the analysis, design and installation of power-saving equipment in Bldg. 210, a compressed air facility, and a ventilation system upgrade in Bldg. 3225, the corrosion hangar, in FY14-15. "Both of these present tremendous process energy reduction opportunities," Mr. Cecrle said. For example, the compressed air facility in Bldg. 210 uses 10.4 million gallons of water and consumes 17,391 megawatt-hours of electricity each year, according to Brian Gilliam, Industrial Plant Equipment Maintenance Flight chief, 76th Maintenance Support Squadron. Mr. Cecrle said it takes seven units of power to manufacture one equivalent unit of compressed air. "In other words, it takes seven horsepower of electricity to generate one horsepower of compressed air," he said. "As such, it is very expensive to generate but we use it everywhere on this base." Tinker is working with state offices and commercial companies to find opportunities to reduce the energy used in compressed air systems, Mr. Cecrle said. Plating Shop Renovation Also in FY14 the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group plans to overhaul the Electroplating Shop in Bldg. 3001. The goal is to reduce the shop's energy bills by almost $1 million, by cutting back on steam usage, lowering electricity and water consumption, and installing lids on the 130 tanks in the shop, each of which is capable of holding about 1,000 gallons of liquid solution.