Energy Action Month: “Power to win”
October is the Army’s Energy
Action Month. This years’ theme, “Power to win” reinforces the importance of resilient and secure energy and water at Army installations and overseas locations to enable Warfighters to accomplish their mission.
So, what can you do to improve Army resilience for Energy Action Month? Installation personnel can have an impact on resilience and affordability through efficiency. The less energy and water that we use for our critical missions, the less energy and water that we need to provide during outages and shortages. The Army also has overall annual efficiency goals to reduce energy intensity by 2.5% per year, water use by 3%, and energy costs by 5%.
What actions do we all need to take to improve efficiency? There are really only four things that we need to do:
1. Pay attention to thermostat settings. The Army temperature standard for an air conditioned space is 78 °F. When the area is unoccupied, such as nights and weekends, the temperature standard is 85 °F. The number one action to save energy and money at Yuma Proving Ground is to set thermostats to the Army policy. What happens if you want your office to be a cooler than Army policy? Setting the temperature lower uses much more electricity. A setting of 72 °F will use about 30% more energy than setting of 78 °F. A setting of only 76 °F will still use 13% more energy. For heat the standard is 68 °F occupied, and 55 °F for unoccupied times like nights and weekends.
2. Turn off the lights and equipment that you are not using. Do you remember to turn your lights off when you leave your office? Do you leave the lights on in conference rooms when no one is there? Do you leave equipment on when you are not using it? If you don’t need the lights or equipment to be on, and they don’t have a sleep mode, just turn them off.
3. Buy energy efficient equipment. Department of Defense policy is to purchase only Energy Star rated equipment, when available. So, if you are purchasing equipment, first check to see if Energy-Star versions are available.
4. Prevent waste of energy and water. Keep doors and windows to air-conditioned areas closed. Are there any problems in your building that causes energy or water to be wasted? Can you see light streaming in around outside doors and windows in air-conditioned areas? Do you have any leaking fixtures or toilets or faucets that drip or run? Does your air compressor run when no one is using it? Just call the Shearwater Mission Support desk and put in a service order to have these facility issues corrected.
We do have the ability every day to have an impact on larger, Army-wide issues like resilience by taking actions every day to reduce energy and water consumption and lower utility costs. Please remain mindful of our energy and water use throughout the year and reduce consumption, and you too can help improve Army resilience.