Central energy control saves Vance $217,000 annually

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Frank Casciotta
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Vance saves $217,000 annually in energy costs thanks to a system that had its beginning in 1971.

The Energy Management Control System, with its "brain" in Building 288, does a number of interesting things to keeping energy consumption levels low by monitoring and controlling room temperatures across the base.

"The EMCS allows me to monitor and control temperatures in about 75 facilities on base through 5,354 sensors," said Byron Gainer, an Energy Management and Control System network analyst with CSC Applied Technologies, the primary contractor at Vance.

Alarms will go off in the EMCS room if temperature standards aren't met somewhere on base to let the person monitoring know there is a problem.

"With this system we can fix most problems from here," said Glenda Watkins, chief of design and energy management with CSC, pointing to a computer monitor displaying a floor plan schematic of a building.

"While this seems like a simple program, it has been a keystone to Vance's success in being one of the most energy efficient bases within Air Education and Training Command," said Watkins.

"Other bases call asking what we are doing since we have reduced our energy consumption by 30 percent for fiscal year 2012, while the federal policy only called for a 21 percent reduction," said Watkins. "The reality is, people here remember little things like turning off the lights and using the EMCS to maintain temperature standards."

"We also upgrade to the most energy-efficient products, systems and programs for the EMCS," said Gainer. "Each building has a microprocessor and the sensors in the building go back to the processor, which has a fiber-optic line linked to the EMCS."

The EMCS does more than monitor and control room temperature. It is also used as an alert system when something malfunctions.

"Say one of the refrigerators holding antibiotics in the Clinic goes out," said Gainer. It would show up immediately on the EMCS. "I can call them as soon as it happens so they can save the medicine before it becomes damaged," said Gainer.