Commentary: Energy Awareness Month kicks off

  • Published
  • By Steve Perry
  • 100th Civil Engineer Squadron
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  The U.S. federal government mandated October as the Energy Awareness Month. During October, it's the time to reflect on the importance of energy conservation and impress upon Airmen, DOD civilians and their dependents the need to make a cultural change toward being more energy cognizant.

This year's campaign slogan is "I am Air Force Energy."

No matter what we do in supporting the mission, we all end up having to use valuable energy and other natural resources. Our ingenuity in carrying out the necessary tasks in an effective and energy efficient matter can make a huge impact on the amount of utilities consumed.

Last year, our facility utility costs for RAF Mildenhall came to nearly $10 million. In March this year, the U.S. Air Force published a revised energy strategic plan which focuses on the following four priorities:

1. Improve resiliency to ensure the Air Force has the ability to recover from energy interruptions and sustain the mission.

2. Reduce demand through operational and logistical efficiencies and new technologies, without losing mission capabilities.

3. Assure supply by diversifying the type of energy and securing the quantities necessary to perform its mission.

4. Foster an energy-aware culture by increasing everyone's understanding of energy and its impact to the mission.

Investing money in making our facilities more energy efficient is obviously one way forward, however improvement work must be cost effective and paid back in 10 years or less when seeking ring fenced energy improvement project funds. With some of our older facilities this is not a viable proposition.

As new facilities develop, they are being designed and constructed to more exacting performance standards, making our future facilities sustainable, more energy and water efficient as well as providing some renewable energy technologies.

Some of our existing facilities have seen better days and are not energy efficient at all. Many of these are earmarked for demolition and will eventually disappear over time. Additionally, better use of our facilities and optimizing the available working space will also help to reduce our consumption levels.

One of our biggest outlets for reduction is through fostering an energy aware culture. Am energy aware culture gets folks to take responsibility for the actual energy and water they consume.

To help foster good stewardship, previous 100th Air Refueling Wing Commander Col. Christopher Kulas earlier in the year reviewed the list of the wing's highest energy consumers, then tasked the 100th Maintenance Group to develop and implement a plan to reduce their individual consumption. Their stalwart efforts paved the way for other groups to follow in their wake.

The 100th Civil Engineer Squadron has made vast improvements in the training provided to facility managers with respect to energy and are now offering them access to their building utility metering. From this metering data, the facility managers can see exactly how well their building is performing.

This year, our campaign plan was a collaboration effort with inputs from right across Team Mildenhall and participants have proposed actions to be implemented during October and beyond.

If you see any energy or water wastage during your daily travels in and around your work areas, I challenge you do something about it and make a difference. If this is beyond your comfort zone pass it on to your supervisor or your base energy manager, Steve Perry at DSN 238-5660 or commercial 01638545660. Together, we can all make a difference.