Energy competition moving forward at Hanscom

Published March 31, 2011
By Sarah Olaciregui
66th Air Base Group Public Affairs

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- It's been three months since Hanscom's Energy Reduction Competition kicked off, and officials are already encouraged. The campaign, which began in January 2011, aims to promote an energy culture change and reduce consumption across the base.

"The real purpose of the competition is to promote energy conservation awareness," said David Wong, base civil engineering programs flight chief. "We're seeing that, as several of the 'champions' have been promoting the campaign through energy conservation tip emails, posters and briefings at staff meetings."

The "champion" is an organization leader in charge of promoting the campaign.

The competition is comprised of two separate contests and two sets of statistics: Average Energy Intensity and "Biggest Loser."

"Practically every building on base is different and uses different amounts of energy," said Tom Schluckebier, base civil engineer. "To account for these differences, we divided the competition into two categories. Buildings and organizations that need a higher amount of energy for their mission will be more competitive in the Biggest Loser contest, while others that need to use less energy are more likely to excel in the average intensity portion of the competition. The current competition data shows that reducing energy consumption is the key to success in both contests."

To measure the average energy intensity portion, competition officials average each month's electrical energy consumption per square foot and rank each organization with those numbers.

Based on the latest readings from January and February, Electronic Systems Center headquarters ranks first, with the Battle Management Directorate coming in second.

The "Biggest Loser" portion measures energy reduction. Competition officials took a baseline reading from each organization in December 2010. From that baseline number, they measure the cumulative reduction in electrical energy consumption per square feet.

At the end of January, the Battle Management Directorate was in first, but by the end of February, the C2ISR Directorate just edged them out to take the lead.

At the end of each month, facility managers receive a mock utility bill letting them know how they are doing compared to other base organizations.

Mr. Schluckebier thinks the competition is showing good results.

"The competition is unique because we are doing it not based on buildings, but on organizations," he said. "Each organization's 'champion' is a senior leader."

One such "champion" is Col. Stacy McNutt, Battle Management deputy director. She has been working with Lt. Col. De Leon Narcisse, Battle Management director of operations, Bob Lesko, Building 1612's facility manager, and Dane Hutchison, Battle Management energy awareness lead, to create awareness throughout the organization.

"We initially sent out an e-mail to kick off the campaign and included energy saving tips," said Colonel McNutt. "They were mostly just common sense practices."

The e-mail seemed to be effective though.

"It actually generated a lot of other tips," said Colonel Narcisse. "We were surprised at the response. People sent in tips about things like recycling, and some of our energy conscious staff are really getting into it."

The energy competition statistics are also briefed at Battle Management staff meetings.

"It's one thing for us to tell you to turn off your lights at the end of the day, but it's another to get updates at meetings," said Mr. Lesko. "It gives you an incentive to be more energy conscious."

Colonel Narcisse believes the competition goes beyond energy reduction awareness.

"We want to be good stewards of taxpayers' dollars," he said. "We're all in this together and I think everyone appreciates the effort."

Colonel McNutt notes that the campaign can have lasting effects.

"Even if just one person tries to conserve energy, it's one more than before," she said.

Both members of civil engineering, as well as the champions and facility managers, agree that part of the reason the competition has seen results is because it has received support from the top down.

"If leadership didn't support this, it would not get off the ground," said Colonel Narcisse.

The energy competition will run until June 2011. It directly ties into an Air Force Materiel Command energy competition that began in July 2010. At the end of the AFMC competition, first, second and third place awards will be announced and the winners will receive their share of $1.2 million that is currently planned to be set aside and used toward energy related projects.