TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --
Tinker’s Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex is taxiing to
take-off on a revolutionary Continuous Energy Improvement program.
The program will enable OC-ALC to reach “Art of the
Possible” energy goals using a continuous process improvement mindset. The program is part of the effort to meet
federal goals for reducing energy consumption and emissions generation between
now and 2030. But it is also intended to make clear to the ALC’s present and
potential customers that the OC-ALC is committed to delivering the most energy
efficient and cost-effective services in the Air Force.
Joseph Cecrle, the ALC’s energy manager, who is leading
the effort, said that the ALC will be the first Air Force operation to adopt
Continuous Energy Improvement.
“We are relying on ISO 50001, the international standard
for strategic energy management, for guidance to make sure that every facet of
ALC operations — from shop floors to offices — is working on energy
performance,” Mr. Cecrle said.
OC-ALC Commander Brig. Gen. Mark Johnson said the complex
will be the first Air Force operation with ISO 50001 certification.
“But the certification matters less than what the energy
savings mean to our competitiveness, our host community and the Air Force’s
overall mission,” the general said.
How is this done?
Mr. Cecrle said the Continuous Energy Improvement program
uses well-established techniques that the ALC has successfully applied to its
AS 9110 Quality Management program and its Voluntary Protection Program to
increase worker safety.
“Continuous Energy Improvement is precisely the kind of
operational discipline we are good at,” he said. “We’re just applying that
skill in a new way.”
At the same time, ISO 50001 is different from other such
standards. The creation of ISO 50001 and its approval by nations around the
globe were spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The DOE insisted that
the energy management standard be data-driven, and that it “have teeth.”
Organizations that get certified are required to demonstrate performance
improvement or they could lose their certification.
At the core of ISO 50001 is engagement of the people who
know how to do the work.
Most industrial processes have never been optimized for
energy efficiency, so there are often a multitude of no-cost/low-cost energy
gains that come from changing the way something is done.
Mr. Cecrle said they want people at all levels to look at
their work processes more critically, to look at their surroundings more
closely and to think about what could be changed to continue the ALC’s
operation but with less energy.
“The thing we want people to do is to challenge the way we
do things,” he said. “The ALC has never been a ‘that’s the way it’s always been
done’ kind of place. Think about everything you do and then do it better.”
The ALC’s Continuous Energy Improvement program is
revolutionary in another way as well.
The cost of implementing the ISO 50001 requirements is
being carried by the ALC’s energy contractor, Honeywell, as part of Honeywell’s
Energy Savings Performance Contract. Under this contract, Honeywell is
implementing multiple projects in ALC facilities at their own cost. Honeywell
will recoup the cost out of energy savings over the 20 year term of the
contract.
ESPCs are typically focused on hardware changes and
upgrades. But in an innovative procurement, the ALC is acquiring ISO 50001
certification as part of the ESPC. So the ALC is not expending any funds
upfront.
“The innovation is that we are treating the ISO 50001
certification as just another energy conservation measure,” Mr. Cecrle said.
Although he added, “It’s innovative now, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it
as a standard procedure in five years.”
In the meantime, the ALC’s
initiative has already received high level attention, and the AFSC has now
required all three ALCs to be ISO 50001 certified by 2020.