MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY, Ga. -- For the second year in a row, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany hosted the annual Georgia Military Installation Energy Conference at the Base Conference Center, May 10.
In addition to a series of formal presentations, conference attendees shared ideas, partnerships and technology used to meet the federally-mandated energy goals by 2015.
Fred Broome, director, Installation and Environment Division, MCLB Albany, said their energy mandates are to increase renewable energy and get more energy efficient.
“We have the landfill gas-to-energy project which is nearing completion and are working on lighting, geothermal and other upgrades to meet those mandates. We are excited that the Marine Corps is funding these and other energy projects,” he said.
Broome said additional funding has been approved to add a second generator for the LFG project here, which will double capacity depending on how much gas is generated by the landfill.
“This year’s conference was a tremendous success with many innovative technological solutions, contract vehicles and partnerships being discussed,” he said.
Some of the presentations covered electric transportation, integrated energy management controls system, building energy audits, retro-commissioning energy savings programs, waste diversion and many others.
Vernon Duck, installation energy manager, Fort Benning, Ga., said he was unable to attend last year, but is very impressed with the level of support the command and staff gives to the program here.
“I’m learning what the Navy does different from the Army. We are extremely busy and continuing to grow and increase in size by 25 percent. Before the base realignment and closure build-up, our base had 15 million square feet of facility space, now we are up to more than 21 million feet of space,” Duck said. “That equates to a massive transformation of the base and a lot of energy usage. Networking is the best way to learn from other energy managers and it is always good to get away to learn what other installations are doing to help manage such a large energy program.”
Duck said the army is mandated by law that all of their new facilities be designed to the Leadership in Energy Environmental Design silver standard.
“We will have one LEED gold building, which is our headquarters building, which is more than 600,000 square feet and is being completely renovated to include the new energy standards,” he said.
Broome and Eddie Hunt, energy manager, I&E, MCLB Albany, discussed in detail their current projects and initiatives to include landfill gas-to-energy, solar hot water heating, photovoltaic energy production, Department of Defense/Department of Education-funded applied research in seasonal storage, in-ground source heat pumps and biofuels, smart grid technology with advanced metering infrastructure and a peak shaving generator, and a local analysis of correlation and influential variables in consumption and improved energy management control systems for load shedding.
Betsy Rodriguez, engineer, Utilities and Energy Management Group, Naval Facilities Southeast, said she was attending the conference to share the Navy’s energy goals and plans with the other installations.
“Each naval installation has energy goals they are required to meet in order to reduce the overall energy consumption and to use more renewable resources. The goals are different for each base, but plans must be in place to meet them,” she said. “From what I’ve heard today, I plan to take these ideas back to our leaders to see if we can implement some of them, especially the landfill gas project.”
Hunt said the conference was attended by more than 30 energy professionals from several military installations in Georgia, along with leaders from industry and academia.
“The theme of this year’s conference was to teach energy savings initiatives that will help other installations meet their mandated energy reduction goals. The gathering of all these interested and knowledgeable people made the conference a complete success,” he said. “Everyone I spoke with at the conference had learned something to take back with them.