New Navy center identifies energy savings

Apr 16 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Ed Friedrich Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, Wash.


Northwest bases, already dominating Navy energy-saving awards, have pulled out the big anti-consumption gun.

Navy Region Northwest officials showed off their utilities and energy operations center Friday to President Barack Obama's principal environmental policy adviser, Nancy Sutley. When fully completed and connected, the center will monitor, acquire data and control utilities and energy consumption across the Puget Sound region.

Kitsap facilities are mostly hooked up and running. Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and Naval Station Everett are starting to integrate with the Bangor center, said Chet Braun, industrial control system program manager.

"We're growing this bit by bit," he said of the Navy's only energy operations center on the West Coast and one of only two in the Navy. "There's a lot yet we can't control or monitor. We're in shakedown phase and slowly expanding out to the region."

Inside the windowless nerve center, two control system operators from contractor EJB Facilities Services sit at wraparound consoles. In front of them is a wall of eight big screens, displaying electricity, steam, natural gas, compressed air, water and sewer systems. Operators can view an entire base or zoom in to a single room. Trouble spots show up as red dots. A total of six operators keep the center running around the clock.

Smart electric meters are being installed throughout the region. They transmit usage information to the operations center every 15 minutes.

"We can collect massive amounts of data, which is good," Braun said, "but we must analyze it."

The Navy is determining what kind of analysis is needed.

Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said availability to data is sparking an energy-saving revolution.

"You can't manage what you don't measure," she said. "In a complicated environment or just an office building, if you don't know what you're using, you don't know the opportunities to save energy."

The Navy is leading the way in national energy conservation. Its goal is to reduce consumption by 30 percent from 2003 to 2015. Navy Region Northwest has already gotten there.

Military services have an appreciation for energy matters.

"Whether you're moving fuel in Afghanistan or operating a facility like this, energy is a critical component," Sutley said. "I'm very proud of the work the Navy is doing."

The Defense Department is the largest energy consumer in the federal government, and the federal government is the largest consumer in the country, Sutley said.

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