Kirtland Mission Partners, community committed to conserve energy

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. John Salinas
  • Energy Conservation Working Group
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico --  Energy is becoming a more pressing issue in everybody's mind and even though oil prices may have eased up a bit since last summer, Kirtland AFB leadership is determined to eliminate wasteful energy use. 

On Jan. 14, Col. Michael Duvall, 377th Air Base Wing commander, Kim Davis, acting manager of the DOE/NNSA Sandia Site Office, and Dr. Thomas O. Hunter, the president and laboratories director of Sandia National Laboratories, signed a commitment to conserve and use energy and other resources as wisely as possible. 

This show of support from the largest organizations on base is just the first step in a wide-ranging campaign to achieve realistic and worthwhile energy conservation goals. 

Starting in February, a poster competition will be conducted to draw out and publicize the base community's creativity in achieving energy usage awareness and to highlight simple energy conservation ideas. 

International Lights Out Day is March 28 and is marked by enacting easy and nondisruptive energy conservation measures like its name would suggest. Kirtland AFB will conduct its own "lights out" effort to coincide with Lights Out Day to demonstrate how much energy can be saved through common-sense, energy-saving actions. 

Once these baseline energy savings are established, Air Force, Sandia and NNSA/SSO organizations will square off in a competition to see which side of the house can reduce their energy use the most. A trophy and bragging rights will be bestowed upon the winning organization along with a few, as yet undetermined, goodies once the competition is done. 

Following the competition, the "Earth, Wind and Sun" event will be hosted by Sandia National Labs July 21-22 and will highlight renewable energy and conservation technologies that can be employed in the workplace as well as at home. More details on these events are available at www. kirtland.af.mil/kirtlandenergy conservationworkinggroup. asp. 

Energy conservation ideas can also be sent to energy conservation@kirtland.af.mil. 

The people with the keys to the kingdom, as far as energy use is concerned, are our facility managers and they have already begun training in the details of energy conservation. They will be the front line for personally contacting 100 percent of Air Force facility occupants in the attempt to save energy. Training will be given to all of the facility managers during February or March so they will have the information needed to make their own contacts in their own organizations. 

These energy awareness and conservation measures are being planned and executed by the Kirtland Energy Conservation Working Group formed from the following Air Force, Sandia and Department of Energy personnel: Sam Pyeatt, Air Force Inspection Agency; Bruce Burnham, Air Force Safety Center, Cliff Richardson, 377th Civil Engineer Division; Chris Evans, Marti Adams, Matthew Brito and Morgan Gerard, all with Sandia National Laboratories; Capt. Hollie Schiller and 1st Lt. John Salinas, Air Force Research Laboratory; Capt. Eric Vanley, 512th Rescue Squadron and Staff Sgt. Sam Hymas, 377th Air Base Wing. 

The team is always looking for new ideas or members and if you would like to join send an e-mail to the team leader at robert.pyeatt@kirt land.af.mil.