Lakenheath begins Energy Action Month with initiative

  • Published
  • By Sean Cockrell
  • 48th Civil Engineer Squadron
October is Energy Action Month and I would like to take the opportunity to stress the importance of energy and water conservation. The 2012 theme is "I am Air Force Energy." With that, we need to look inward at ourselves, our equipment, our usage requirements and our processes.

To start this year off right, we have chosen three areas to focus on. The first is to remove dependency on 120 volt power in our facilities, which costs the base $750,000 per year. The second is to stop flushing 20 million gallons of water per year down the urinals, which costs the base $400,000 per year. The third is to turn the temperature down in our facilities at night, on weekends and when unoccupied, to reduce the $350,000 it costs the base per year.

These initiatives account for five-seven percent of our energy use and six-eig percent or our water use. Energy costs directly impact mission readiness and reducing our energy requirement is seen as an operations enabler by base leadership.

RAF Lakenheath has met the mandated goals for fiscal year 2012, which were 21 percent energy reduction from a 2003 baseline and 10 percent water reduction from a 2007 baseline. It is a requirement to reduce energy consumption by 3 percent per year and water consumption by 2 percent per year every year until 2020. That is why we are focusing on these three main initiatives. It is vital that the base understand and support these initiatives to reduce electricity, water, and heating oil.

During Energy Action Month, the 48th Fighter Wing will team with RAF Mildenhall to host electric and water utility road shows, disseminate energy awareness information, engage facility managers and unit environmental coordinators, start a housing reduction initiative, introduce plans to remove transformers from work areas and convert urinals to waterless function. Please experiment with heating temperature setbacks. At home everyone should have a programmable or adjustable thermostat, but at work it may be a little more difficult to figure out. Work with your building manager to identify potential setbacks in buildings when unoccupied.

We have a lot of control over the amount of energy we consume on a daily basis. I challenge each of you to make a conscious effort to reduce your energy consumption on the job and at home.

If you have any questions, please contact the your local energy manager or the resource efficiency manager.