Air Force, industry leaders discuss future of energy at forum

Published June 4, 2008
By Senior Airman Danielle Johnson
305th Air Mobility Wing public affairs

MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- Air Force and energy industry officials discussed various energy conservation and alternative energy sources at the Air Force Sustainable Energy Conference June 2 as part of Air Force Week in Philadelphia.

The conference, held at the Rutgers University Cook Campus Center in New Brunswick, N.J., was a forum for McGuire officials and industry leaders to discuss current and potential energy initiatives at the base, which has been selected as a model energy base by the Secretary of the Air Force.

McGuire officials discussed the base's plans to become energy independent by 2015 and reducing the base's energy consumption by more than 35 percent. According to a briefing by Chris Archer, McGuire's deputy base civil engineer, the base has reduced water consumption by 55 percent since 1993 and has received 17 annual Tree City Awards. The base has also made progress reducing hazardous waste disposal and hazardous material purchases by more than 75 percent since 1996, and has recovered and recycled 60,000 gallons of aircraft deicing fluid.

Mr. Archer also discussed McGuire's strategic infrastructure energy goals, which include a 50 percent decrease in consumption by 2011. The base plans to save energy by upgrading lighting and optimizing heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and by reducing ramp lighting, delaying air-conditioning turn-on and educating base personnel about energy-saving practices such as shutting down computers after-hours and turning off lights when not in use.

The forum also included the application of green construction practices to new housing construction and renovation, given by Harry Bagot, United Communities director of construction management, who described the various initiatives United Communities has taken to ensure new and renovated housing units are energy-efficient. These initiatives include insulation, certified Energy Star appliances and compact fluorescent bulbs in all light fixtures.

Several presentations were made on various fuel-reduction initiatives for vehicle and aircraft operations, and vehicle and aircraft cargo operations. The base has evaluated its vehicle fleet and replaced some of the vehicles with low speed vehicles, in addition to modifying 76 vehicles to use E85 ethanol, completely eliminating 15 vehicles deemed unnecessary and replacing 121 vehicles with ones more suited to the tasks required of them. Base logistics officials are also evaluating the possible use of vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen. Aircraft initiatives have included the elimination of unnecessary flights and flying time, as well as precisely planning fuel needs for missions, reducing the aircraft weight to increase fuel-efficiency and using synthetic fuel blends.

Perhaps one of the biggest savings in fuel-related costs for the Department of Defense is a result of the realignment of truck and aircraft cargo operations, dubbed locally as the Red Ball Express. This initiative is expected to save $40 million per year while decreasing the delivery time required for critical cargo to reach the AOR.

A last-minute addition to the schedule was a briefing on the possibility of using nuclear power on an Air Force installation. Though McGuire leadership has no current plans for a nuclear power plant at the base, Jeff Halfinger, uranium processing program manager for Babcock and Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, discussed the possibility of adapting a small modular nuclear plant to be adapted to meet a customer's needs, and how this could be adapted for use by Air Force installations. He discussed some of the perceptions and myths regarding nuclear power plants and provided attendees an illustration of what a small reactor building would look like. He also discussed the benefits of nuclear power produced by this type of facility, which include a compact design that is passively safe and features an automatic shut-down and redundant systems, as well as a long refueling cycle and the possibility of selling excess electricity to a secondary market off the installation.

Though nuclear power may not currently be in the plans for McGuire, the model energy base certainly has a bright future ahead with its various energy-saving initiatives. Through its partnership with industry leaders, state and federal government, and academia - and the innovation and commitment of base personnel - McGuire will exceed its goal of resource preservation and energy sustainability.

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