Energy managers find ways to save money

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Andrew Moua
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Every utility in your house, from the lights to the shower, run at your convenience. But where does the energy come from, and who's in charge on base of managing those utilities on a daily basis? That responsibility falls under the Barksdale energy manager.

John McLaughlin, 2nd Civil Engineer Squadron base energy manager, is in charge of all utilities on base such as power, water and sewage, and also manages energy savings programs.

"A big portion of my job is energy management, collecting data on utilities on base and making sure the bills get paid," McLaughlin said. "I also do a lot of work with energy saving projects, and one of the things I've been working on doing is managing an energy sustainability assessment team."

The team McLaughlin supervises tours the base and relays information back to him to design projects which can save even more energy and money.

"It's actually fairly difficult to save energy on base because of the quality of our energy systems," he said.

McLaughlin said there are many other different and much more efficient ways to power the base, such as solar power or wind turbines. To utilize these sources of energy however, methods have to meet a savings-to-investment ratio. Basically, the method of producing energy has to pay for itself over its lifetime.

"In Louisiana, those methods aren't cost effective due to the low cost of energy," he added.

In order to save energy, Barksdale officials have been considering using geothermal heat pumps to extract excess heat from the earth's surface and store it underground. In the winter, this heat can be extracted and used instead of turning on heaters. In the summer, the excess heat is taken and stored underground to cool buildings without using air conditioning.

The only problem is space the system requires due to its complexity, McLaughlin said.

"We don't have a lot of free space around buildings to construct these pumps, and that's where the real problem lies," he said. "But we're certainly open to the idea."

There are many ways Airmen can help save power on base. These can be as simple as turning off computer monitors and turning the lights off in vacant rooms.

"I suggest doing anything we can to save on our utility bills," McLaughlin said. "Leaving just a few lights on may not seem like much, but it all adds up very quickly."

For more information on how to save energy, contact McLaughlin at 781-5450.