Energy conservation: a team effort

Have you ever gone into the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center on a hot
summer day and felt the inviting cool temperature of the central
cooling?

Most people don’t give it a second thought after that initial moment of nirvana, but it takes a lot to keep the refreshing air circulating through the KMCC.
Members of the 786th Civil Engineer Squadron KMCC Heating-Ventilation-Air Conditioning team make those cool, invigorating moments possible.

The team, consisting of four local nationals, is responsible for
maintaining a variety of equipment while also looking for opportunities
to save energy.

“Here at the KMCC the team is known as a small maintenance and repair team,” said Master Sgt. Trevor Stephen, 786th CES HVAC team member. “We are responsible for quick repair and maintenance of the facilities equipment, mainly HVAC, electrical and some plumbing and structures.”

The team also performs preventative maintenance on both traditional facility HVAC equipment and also on unique items including 14 air curtains, 200 variable speed motor drive frequency inverters, numerous kitchen exhaust hoods, and facility fire evacuation extraction systems.

Every aspect of the HVAC team’s job deals with some sort of energy. With the KMCC contributing more than $3 million to Ramstein’s nearly $20 million electricity bill, trying to conserve energy is a top priority.

But saving energy is not just the job of trained professionals, it’s a team effort, and everyone is encouraged to do their part. Luckily, there are many ways to do so.
“If renters changed to energy efficient lighting, and reduced HVAC consumption, or turned devices that would provide the most savings,” said Trent Tholen,
86th CES planning.

Even those things we take lightly, like turning the lights off when not in use and cutting down our shower time make a large difference in energy saved.

“Turning off house heat distribution during warm months and reducing shower time can save a lot of energy,” Mr. Tholen said. “Also, eliminating extra waste by recycling and separating trash accordingly conserves energy by re-utilization instead of processing.”

By doing these simple tasks, Air Force funds won’t be wasted on excessive bills and will go to those who need it most.

“Money spent on energy is money not available to support the war-fighter,” Mr. Tholen said. “Energy conservation is a team effort because we all use energy and to achieve optimum savings we need to work together.”