Taking action to conserve energy

  • Published
  • By Airman Collin Schmidt
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Annually, the Air Force spends nearly $9 billion on fuel and electricity to support its forces. As Airmen and consumers of this energy, it is our duty to do everything we can to use it wisely. Proper utilization of these limited resources is becoming a focal point for every individual team member and the whole organization alike.

Within the Department of Defense, the Air Force is the largest consumer of energy using nearly 9 percent of its budget to cover energy related costs.

"Each year we spend (billions of dollars) for the fuel and electricity that we need," said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. "To remain the best Air Force on the planet, we need to use our resources as productively as possible."

While the need for these limited assets is high, the AF is also the DOD leader in renewable energy investment. Creating unlimited and clean energy is an important focus to sustain the global mission this branch of the military carries out.

This year's theme, "Mission Assurance through Energy Assurance," indicates the important role energy has in accomplishing the Air Force mission.

In the past decade, energy use has been cut by nearly 30 percent but utility rates have continued to climb. Since fiscal year 2013, the AF has begun approximately 261 renewable energy projects on 96 sites to combat the obstacles associated with a growing force.

Heavy focus is being geared towards extracting landfill gas to convert into usable energy, harnessing wind power and using clean solar energy that is essentially limitless.

"Energy resiliency is, first and foremost, my highest focus area for facility energy," said Miranda Ballentine, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy.

"The AF operates from our bases, and it is essential for those installations with critical missions to have access to uninterrupted power in the event of a man-made or natural disaster," she continued.

Closer to home at Malmstrom Air Force Base, to fall in line with these big-picture needs the base has recently completed the installation of a base-wide energy monitoring and control system.

"A large portion of the total energy that is used in buildings is consumed by the heating and air-conditioning systems," said Dave Dower, 341st Civil Engineer Squadron engineering flight chief. "The EMCS provides us control of those HVAC systems and helps us focus on reducing energy."

The system is comprised of a central server computer system connected to a virtual local area network made of fiber optics. This system is wired into multiple buildings so that energy usage can be monitored to identify inefficiencies.

Also, the EMCS provides operations status of mechanical systems such as HVAC, pumps, boilers and temperature gauges so maintenance technicians can ensure systems operate at peak efficiency.

"A large portion of the energy savings can be realized through programmed, set-back schedules whereby each building's temperature is altered to reduce energy usage at night and on weekends," said Dower.

As the system is implemented and the system parameters are programmed, the hope is to see the base benefit from lower energy costs.

"It is important to remind ourselves why we must all care about energy," said Ballentine. "Energy powers everything we do, and every mission requires energy."