Air Force takes home six FEMP awards Published Aug. 18, 2016 By Jess Dupree AFCEC Public Affairs TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The Department of Energy recently announced the winners of the 2016 Federal Energy Management Program awards. Of the nine government agencies that won the 15 awards, the Air Force won six across three categories. The Air Force Civil Engineer Center received nomination packages from around the Air Force in May, evaluated them and submitted the 12 best nominations for consideration by FEMP. "We are extremely proud of our Air Force winners," said Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy Miranda Ballentine. "These six individuals and teams have worked diligently to implement more energy efficient operations, conserve our water resources and generate significant cost savings for the Air Force. By reevaluating the ways we consume and manage energy, and leveraging new opportunities and technologies, they were able to establish best practices that can be shared throughout the Air Force. Their commitment, dedication and ingenuity serve as excellent examples of our energy community are working hard every day to ensure we provide mission assurance through energy assurance." Congratulations to the following winners: Career Exceptional Service Award Jon Dalsfoist of the 673rd Civil Engineer Squadron, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, won for his 45-year federal engineering career. His direct actions in producing energy conserving projects has led to significant resource savings and sustainability accomplishments far beyond the boundaries of JBER. Dalsfoist has saved his salary several times over by providing innovative projects that have reduced government energy consumption far in excess of existing requirements. Edwin Walter of Volk Field, Wisconsin, won for his service to Air Force energy over more than 30 years. His achievements are recognized not only by his immediate supervisor, base personnel and Air National Guard leadership, but also commercial vendors. Walter's dedication and commitment to energy conservation is evident by helping Volk Field achieve a 31-percent energy reduction which exceeded the fiscal 2015 goal for federal buildings mandated within the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Program Award The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base energy management office in Ohio focuses on using energy efficiently while conserving energy and materials. The program includes three integrated but geographically separated landmasses encapsulating the entire base footprint, encompassing about 16 million square feet of facility infrastructure. In fiscal 2015, WPAFB saved more than 301 million British thermal units of energy for a 15-percent reduction in overall energy intensity. The North Carolina ANG's 145th Civil Engineer Squadron at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport Air National Guard Base, North Carolina, created an exceptional energy management team that encompasses a myriad of initiatives and programs, resulting in outstanding energy savings as well as substantial quality-of-life improvements for its customers. Energy savings initiatives through conventional heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems upgrade projects, direct digital control and smart meter improvements, systems monitoring, and lighting upgrades are combined with base-wide educational initiatives, improved maintenance and reporting to provide a fully-integrated program the entire base population is involved with and supporting. The AFCEC asset visibility team energy program at Tyndall AFB, Florida, is actively managing Air Force-wide implementation of the sustainment management systems, or SMS, a suite of web-based software applications developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help leadership, facility engineers, technicians and activity management plan managers decide when, where and how to best maintain infrastructure while conserving energy. As the Air Force lead for SMS, the asset visibility team is working with USACE to incorporate an energy audit module in BUILDER software. This BUILDER energy audit module may radically change and improve how the Defense Department performs energy audits across all the services. Project Awards The energy team at Dyess AFB, Texas, took on three major projects to improve light-emitting diode lighting and HVAC systems at the installation. The projects, completed in fiscal 2015, saved more than 43.5 million BTUs, $1.8 million and 5,614 tons of greenhouse gases. Project 1 was a utility energy savings contract including 10 different energy conservation measures with a simple payback of eight years and no upfront costs to the government. Project 2 included the replacement of more than 1,100 street lights, parking lot lights and security lights base-wide with LED fixtures which saved energy, money and labor. The final project included HVAC and controls modernization in five facilities providing energy savings and more efficient equipment. An awards ceremony, hosted by DOE, will take place later this year in Washington D.C. To see the complete list of winners, go to http://energy.gov/eere/femp/federal-energy-and-water-management-awards.