Energy Awareness Month: Focusing Efforts

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachiah Roberson
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE --  Energy Action Month is a time for the Air Force to take action on wasteful energy practices, and not only apply simple fixes to issues, but change the structure of certain areas completely.

Being conscious of how much energy is used on installations both stateside and overseas is a continuous battle for the Air Force, but innovations such as realistic flight simulators, helps to consume less fuel and energy.

Joseph Dalrymple, an energy manager with the Grand Forks Air Force Base's 319th Civil Engineer Squadron, has been the lead in swaying Grand Forks AFB when it comes to energy awareness and usage for the past four years.

"We have mainly focused on making people aware of ways that they can save energy and provided reminders to save energy," he said.

Continuous reminders such as the Energy Awareness month video are posted to the base website, Facebook, Twitter and even in e-mails.

Currently, Grand Forks AFB is focusing its efforts on making people aware of ways that they can save energy, and has made strides to improve the energy usage on base.

Recently, the base has implemented measures to improve the overall energy usage through various changes. Such improvements are light-emitting diode (LED) exit signs, switching base-wide to more efficient light bulbs, equipping some bathrooms with motion sensor lights and even adding geothermal heating to such larger facilities as the new security forces and fire station buildings. All of these changes lead to a better, more energy-efficient Grand Forks AFB.

In deciding different policy changes for the base, the main issue is finding the balance between comfort and energy conservation base-wide.

Dalrymple currently estimates facility energy usage on base, but he is planning to start inspecting each building individually to get an exact gauge of each area and how it is operating, thus improving the base's energy usage.

"We hope to do what we can to make energy a consideration in all that we do at Grand Forks, whether it is driving less, remembering to turn off lights, or turning down the heat," said Dalrymple. "We also want everyone on base to know that they can make a difference."