Travis saves $1,000 in energy costs

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Joel Banjo-Johnson
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Staff Sgt. Daniel Morrison, 60th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, saved more than $1,000 a month by developing an energy conservation plan for his facility.

After seeing the amount of energy his building was using, he and his group turned off 50 percent of the lights in the aircraft hangar that typically remain on.
Sergeant Morrison implemented the program July 1 after receiving information about smart meters the building had and asked the Travis Energy Conservation Team to run an energy audit.

"The smart meters really helped," said Sergeant Morrison. "Seeing the numbers drop helped me paint a picture of how much energy we were wasting."
Sergeant Morrison involved his entire squadron to implement similar practices around the workplace.

"We started turning off TVs when no one was in the room and computer monitors when we left our desks," said Staff Sergeant Kurt Joob, 60th Maintenance Squadron. "This is definitely something I'm going to start doing at home."

Sergeant Morrison and his squadron saved enough energy in one month to power another facility of similar size. Before the energy conservation plan was implemented, the smart readers displayed 30 kilowatt hours of energy being used. After one month, they presently read 11 to 15 kilowatt hours.

As the unit environmental manager for his squadron, Sergeant Morrison wants to continue his energy conservation efforts.

"The wingman concept can be used for anything, especially when it comes to saving energy," said Sergeant Morrison. "We should police ourselves and each other and utilize the wingman concept 100 percent of the time."

Travis Airmen have demonstrated commitment to energy conservation, winning the AMC Command Energy Award 2010. Highlights include 600 high-efficiency bathrooms installed in the dorms and 12,000 incandescent lights eliminated, saving $43,000 a year. Travis also installed two remote environmental wells saving $20,000 a year in electricity and streamlined irrigation using computer controls, saving 110 million gallons of water.