WHITE HOUSE PROGRESS REPORT ON PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CLIMATE CHANGE PLAN

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

PROGRESS REPORT: President Obama’s Climate Action Plan

Today – one year after the President laid out his comprehensive Climate Action Plan – the White House released a new report detailing progress towards cutting carbon pollution and protecting our communities and public health.

In the year since the President’s speech at Georgetown University, the Administration has announced new efficiency standards, permitted renewable energy projects on public lands, and proposed carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants. Alongside state, tribal, local, and private sector partners, the Administration is taking steps to make our communities more resilient to the effects of severe weather and is working with other countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases internationally. In fact, when fully implemented, the policies put forward just in the past year since the President’s Plan was released will:

• Cut nearly 3 billion tons of carbon pollution between 2020 and 2025, an amount equivalent to taking more than 600 million cars off the road for a year;
• Enable the development of 8,100 megawatts of wind, solar, and geothermal energy, enough to power nearly 2 million homes;
• Train more than 50,000 workers to enter the solar industry;
• Save consumers more than $60 billion on their energy bills through 2030;
• Improve the energy efficiency of more than 1 billion square feet of city buildings, schools, multifamily housing complexes, and business across the country, an area the size of 17,000 football fields; and
• Protect the health of vulnerable Americans, including children and the elderly, by preventing 150,000 asthma attacks and up to 3,300 heart attacks. 

GOING "NET ZERO" WITH ENERGY

Photo:  Solar Panels.  Credit:  U.S. Navy.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE "ARMED WITH SCIENCE"

Waste not.Written on December 9, 2012 by jtozer
Hatch Stage Field Goes Net Zero Energy


It is a common adage that many people have heard throughout life, but
Fort Rucker is taking the saying to heart as it implements its first Net Zero energy facility, slated for completion by the end of December.

Hatch Stage Field is in the process of installing a 51-kilowatt Photovoltaic array, which are solar panels that will be used to collect energy from the sun to convert into electricity, according to Candy Vaughan, Directorate of Public Works branch chief of utilities and energy management.

"The idea is for the field to be Net Zero, which means for us to generate more electricity than we use over the course of the year," she said. "That will be the first place on Fort Rucker to go to Net Zero."

The ultimate goal is complete Net Zero, according to Trevor Marshall, DPW energy engineer, which is in three components: Net Zero energy, Net Zero water and Net Zero waste.

"Net Zero energy is producing as much energy as is consumed, which we’re going to do at Hatch," he said. "Net Zero water is turning water from aquifers, rainwater and things like that into useable water for irrigation purposes; and Net Zero waste is making sure that we don’t put any waste into landfills by recycling or reusing what we can and turning any waste we can into energy."

Vaughan said that the solar array is directly connected to Alabama Power’s electrical grid, so any energy that is generated at the facility that isn’t used can be fed back onto the grid.

"We will still have a monthly fee [with the power company], but what we will not pay is the avoided cost," she said. "As we put electricity back on their grid, they will credit us the amount that the [power company] doesn’t have to spend to create that electricity."

The amount of electricity being fed back onto the grid should offset the electrical cost and more, according to Marshall.

"The solar panels create the electricity in direct current and then an inverter will convert that electricity in alternate current," he explained. "The electricity will then go to Alabama Power’s transformer and step it up to their distribution voltage, and from there it can go anywhere on their distribution system. They will look at how much were sending out versus how much we’re receiving and be able to credit our bill accordingly."

The solar array will generate about 73,000 kilowatt-hours per year, while Hatch Stage Field uses about 20,000 kWh per year, according to Vaughan.

The new system will save Fort Rucker thousands of dollars a year in energy costs in an area that has a high rate of energy consumption, according to Marshall.

"It was decided that Hatch Stage Field [receive the solar array] because there is a higher rate there," said Vaughan. "Solar arrays are high-cost projects, so it just made a lot more sense to use it where the rates are higher, and Hatch has its own electrical account and the rate was significantly higher than the main post."

She added that the installation of the solar array at Hatch could be a preview of what’s to come at other facilities on post.

"We would like to do it in areas that makes sense like the stage fields where the energy cost is high," said Vaughan. "As the cost of these solar panels are coming down, we’re getting closer to being able to do this in more locations."

Although the cost of solar panels is still high, Vaughan said the project at Hatch cost Fort Rucker nothing.

"We had some equipment at one of the main electric substations that were damaged in 2004," she said. "It was determined that repairs needed to the equipment were not cost effective and Alabama Power, along with other companies, removed the generators and credited Fort Rucker with the equipment to apply to this project.
"This is important from an energy perspective because it increases our [sense of] security," said Marshall. "If we can produce our own renewable energy, then we’re not relying on outside sources to supply us."
By Nathan Pfau, Army Flier Staff Writer

U.S. SPACE COMMAND AND THE GREEN MODEL

The 21st Civil Engineer Squadron installed 24 solar panels at the Peterson Aquatics Center to help heat the approximately 225,000 gallons of water in the pool. The solar panels and other efficiencies have helped reduce energy consumption at the pool by 60 percent. (U.S. Air Force photo)

FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND
Wing building "green" model for command
by Lea Johnson
21st Space Wing Public Affairs staff writer


11/9/2012 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Things around base are looking a little more green as the 21st Civil Engineer Squadron completes multiple energy saving projects around Peterson Air Force Base.

According to Randy Pieper, 21st CES resource efficiency manager, in 2010 the Command Energy Management Steering Group developed a plan to ensure that Air Force Space Command met Air Force goals for increasing energy efficiency in Building 1, the Hartinger Building, reduce infrastructure costs by 20 percent by 2020, reduce facility energy intensity 30 percent by 2015, reduce facility water intensity 16 percent by 2015, and increase use of renewable energy to 25 percent of total consumption by 2025.

To help AFSPC meet that goal, the 21st CES designed a series of projects that would increase energy efficiency and cut operations and maintenance costs. These projects have been so successful that the Hartinger Building has been designated as part of AFSPC's 11-point road map in the command's energy conservation strategy.

According to Pieper, the building was also recently submitted to the Department of Energy for the Better Buildings Federal Award.

"This is an award that recognizes individual buildings that have innovative technologies or significant energy reduction," he said. "The building has been designated to be the 'model' for the command."

Lights, computers and people all create a lot of extra heat in the building. Most of the time this heat goes into the atmosphere as wasted energy. To help reuse the heat that would otherwise be waste, a water-to-water heat pump was installed in the building.

"Heat pumps use electricity via refrigeration compressors to 'pump' heat from one place to another instead of generating heat directly. Therefore, they can be two to three times more energy efficient than conventional water heaters," Pieper said.

Before the pump was installed, the chilled water system took heat out of the building and transferred it to the outside as exhaust. Now, the heat is moved to areas of the building with fewer people and computers that tend to be cooler, which will save an anticipated $22,000 in heating costs.

The 21st CES also increased the efficiency of the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) and Non-Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet) server rooms primary heating ventilation and air conditioning system.

"It's not surprising that server racks are very energy intense," Pieper said.

Having the server rooms, which tend to be very warm, on a separate HVAC system will increase the overall efficiency of the system.

The 21st CES just awarded a project to modify the chilled water system so that the server rooms are independent from the building HVAC system. They will also be adding a "dry cooler" to provide cooling during cold months without running the air conditioning compressor.

"This reduces the cooling load on the main chilled water system," Pieper said.

Another measure the 21st CES put in place to improve the heating system in the Hartinger Building includes three existing boilers being replaced with two high efficiency condensing boilers.

"Condensing boilers allow us to lower the hot water temperature for the heating system so only the heat that is required in the building is provided," Pieper said.

According to Pieper, the new boilers are 92 percent efficient, compared to the previous boilers that were about 83 percent efficient.

The 21st CES is also currently replacing the interior lights in the Hartinger Building with new light-emitting diode fixtures.

Pieper said the new LED lights use 46 percent less electricity than the old lights.

In addition to the multitude of energy saving projects in the Hartinger Building, the 21st CES also installed 24 new solar panels at the Peterson Aquatics Center.

The solar panels are used to help heat the approximately 225,000 gallons of water in the pool, Pieper said.

To aid the solar panels, the 21st CES also installed a heat recovery system to take the warm air from the building and heat recovered from the building's air conditioning system to heat the water.

"Since August, the energy used to heat the pool has dropped by nearly 60 percent," Pieper said.

Sun shades were also installed in the children's pool area to prevent the building from getting as hot, and to use less air conditioning.

Temperatures in the children's pool area dropped about 15-20 degrees compared to previous summers, Pieper said.

All these changes are designed to help the Air Force meet Department of Defense energy reduction goals.