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145th CES receives 2016 Federal Energy and Water Management Award

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt Paul Porter
  • 145th Public Affairs
CHARLOTTE, N.C. --  The North Carolina Air National Guard, 145th Civil Engineer Squadron has been selected for the 2016 Federal Energy and Water Management Award by the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). NCANG instituted an effective team approach to energy and water conservation that resulted in a sustained annual energy reduction of more than 6% per year for the last two years, with an overall 40% reduction in energy intensity and an 84% reduction in water intensity from respective 2003 and 2007 baselines.

The team is made up of NCANG members and civilian employees including 145th CES commander, Lt. Col. Milton Addison, Capt. James Eaton, Senior Master Sgt. Jason Huffstetler, Mr. Christopher Bryant, and Mr. Caleb Chambers. The award recognizes individuals and organizations for significant contributions to energy and water efficiency within the federal government. 

145th CES is one of only two Air National Guard units and six Air Force units recognized out of this year's 30 awardees.

This award partially reads, "Energy savings initiatives through conventional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems upgrades, direct digital control and smart meter improvements, systems monitoring, and lighting upgrades are combined with base wide educational initiatives, improved maintenance, and reporting for a fully integrated program that enlists leadership support and involves the entire base population."

"In other words, we look at all facets of construction. Whether building a new facility, making sure we're using the most technological features we can afford or the day to day maintenance making sure that we're upgrading the buildings to get them as technologically advanced and as efficient as possible is all part of the responsibilities of our Energy Management Team," said Huffstetler, Facility Manager for 145th CES.

"One of the ways we've done this is we leverage technology with common sense. Things like building automation; being able to look and see how our buildings are performing and meets our customers' needs as well as thermal imaging so we can see where we're having heat loss or having cooling issues as well as our smart meter program; that way we can look real-time and see how our buildings are performing and whether or not they're meeting the criteria that they were designed for. If they're not, then we look at what we need to do to remedy that problem, said Huffstetler.

"It's really pretty simple; you get buy in from the wing leadership down, so from the wing commander down to the lowest Airman, it's as simple as treating the workplace as if you're paying the bill at home... when you get to the common sense mentality of it; you own the building that you're in because you're a taxpayer, it's no different than if you're paying your power bill at home," Huffstetler stated energetically.

The team will be presented the award at a ceremony in December and the full description as well as more information on FEMP can be found here- http://energy.gov/eere/femp/2016-federal-energy-and-water-management-award-winners