Tuesday, October 11, 2011

U.S. military tackles energy efficiency

By James M. Connolly

With almost 1.5 million active duty service personnel and about 750,000 civilian employees, the U.S. Department of Defense could be viewed as the country’s fourth largest city, and a city where almost everyone is involved in moving people, as well as ships, planes, tanks and other petroleum-sucking machines around the world.

So, DOD came to the realization that energy efficiency matters.

Last month, DOD and the Pew Charitable Trusts released a Pew research report, “From Barracks to the Battlefield,” detailing how the military is working to become more energy efficient. This morning, Pew and officials of Burlington-based energy consultant Kema Inc. discussed the DOD initiatives and Kema’s role in one aspect of the energy efficiency strategy – implementing energy management at U.S. Navy buildings in 120 global locations.

The smart electricity meters have tighter security requirements than meters used in homes and general businesses, which adds to the initial, retail cost of $1,000, according to Kema vice president Mark C. Burke.

The meters — now in mid-deployment — have delivered energy savings beyond what Kema’s modelling indicated. “We went in thinking it would be one or two percent, it was actually five percent. One thing about the Navy is that if you give people a goal, they will do everything they can to reach it,” said Burke in a presentation in Boston.

The next step for the Navy, he said, will be implementation of demand response, the use of information technology to reduce energy usage during periods of peak demand in exchange for rebates, or in the case of the Navy, credits against future energy bills.

The Pew report detailed some other DOD energy initiatives, including the following:

*Installing insulation on 9 million sq. ft. of temporary structures cut energy consumption by 77,000 gallons of fuel per day.

*DOD support for commercial development of information technology that can accelerate clean energy technology development, growing DOD investment in energy security initiatives from $400 million to $1.2 billion in four years.

*Use of more efficient vehicles such as electric ground vehicles, which could help the military meet its goal of a 30 percent reduction in fossil fuels used by 190,000 non-tactical ground vehicles by 2020.

*Use of new aircraft designed to be more fuel efficient to cut the amount of fuel burned by existing aircraft by 20 percent before 2030.

*Reducing fuel consumption on Navy ships by 15 percent before 2020 through use of more efficient materials and engines — including hybrid electric engines — and installation of stern flaps on ships that reduce drag and are already saving $450,000 per ship per year.

*Use of advanced biofuels in planes, ships and vehicles.

*Between 2003 and 2010, energy efficiency improvements in buildings cut overall energy intensity by 11.4 percent, while the military hopes to cut energy demand in existing buildings by 50 percent and in new construction by 70 percent in the next few years.