Photo By Chief Petty Officer Michael Kennedy | Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Capt. David Owen (pointing) describes recently...... read more read more
YOKOSUKA, Japan - Summer brings higher temperatures and greater demands on the electrical power grid. This year, the energy bill for the whole government was reduced by financial constraints from sequestration.
Public Works, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Far East and other on base organizations are participating in a two-sided initiative to make sure that Fleet Activities, Yokosuka stays within its budget.
“First we want people to have information about how they can save electricity,” said Tom Bawden, base energy manager. “Turning off lights, making sure the TV and other things are off when you leave or when you don’t need them; these things can add up. Some other things to keep in mind are try using natural lighting, turning off the computer monitor when it’s not in use, and the big one, especially right now, is making sure you are following the guidance for setting your A/C units.”
Air conditioning or A/C units cool incoming air by using a heat exchange system that usually involves a compressor. These units can use a lot of electricity, but that amount can be reduced by setting the unit to a different temperature and limiting use to when people are in the room or office.
“There are some misconceptions about how A/C units work. For example, setting the thermostat lower doesn’t cool the room down faster; it just makes the unit run for a longer period of time,” said Bawden. “To help educate people and to make sure they are following the guidelines, we worked to set up the Building Energy Monitor (BEM) program.”
The program assigns responsibility for a command or area to a person or group. They either work or are familiar with the building and look for ways to reduce electrical or water waste and report issues that need to be fixed. Issues could be windows that don’t close completely, A/C units with problems, or anything that could lead to energy waste.
Bawden said that the program is seeing success within some commands like Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Yokosuka.
“Energy conservation is not one big thing, it’s a lot of little things that add up,” said Michael Crockett, MWR Yokosuka safety manager and facility energy monitor. “It might be something small that you don’t really consider, but that one thing added up many times over becomes a big thing. We started with turning off some lights, lights next to windows or lights where we get natural lighting. We look at the building envelope to make sure all the doors and windows shut securely. We only turn on the lights over the fields when they are needed and try to schedule events earlier in the day so we don’t need the lights. When you add all those things together it really makes a difference.”
Bawden said the program also has room for improvement, that individuals have a big role to play in whether the installation meets its energy conservation goals. Individuals who don’t follow guidelines can receive demerits from their BEM or base energy officials. Some of the of things that are cited for demerits are lights turned on in vacant spaces, computers or monitors running when not in use, A/C units set below 27 degrees Celcius, using air conditioning in vacant spaces or exterior lights on during the day time.
If an individual or group accumulates 20 demerits they will be scheduled for mandatory training from the energy manager or energy project developer. Accumulating 60 demerits will require a meeting with the FLEACT, Yokosuka chief staff officer to discuss non-complaint behavior patterns.
To find out ways to save electricity visit the government’s energy website at http://www.energy.gov
| Date Taken: | 07.01.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2013 03:58 |
| Story ID: | 110448 |
| Location: | YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 103 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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