D-M announces future plans at energy symposium

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Michael Washburn
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  The Air Force hosted an industry partnership symposium at the Loews Ventana Canyon Ballroom on June 28 with industry members and congressional leaders to discuss how they can partner with the Air Force to increase the service's use of renewable energy on installations across the U.S.

"Energy is a critical component of our operations," said Mrs. Debra Tune, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics. "It must be managed to ensure that the Air Force maintains global vigilance, reach and power. We must continuously seek out new and innovative ways to manage energy in a way that ensures our critical assets continue to operate when they're needed and where they're needed."

Energy conservation and "going green" is a very big deal these days. Solar panels are one of the many ways to harness usable energy, save money and help the environment.

D-M already utilizes the use of solar panels. The solar panels on base provide approximately 35 percent of the base's electricity requirements and reduce the base utility cost by $500,000 annually with the solar panels requiring little to no maintenance.

Along with the use of solar panels, D-M is currently looking for new ways to be more fuel efficient.

Included in the list of speakers at the symposium where a few members from D-M. They spoke on some of the current and future projects happening on base.

"One of the projects is a thermal ice storage plant," said Mr. Noble, D-M's energy manager. "The thermal ice storage plant integrates ice storage as well as expands D-M's existing chilled water. Currently, D-M chills twelve buildings with a natural gas engine driven chiller with all of our other facilities are cooled independently. With the addition of the electric chillers and the thermal storage, the base will be able to cool an additional 31 buildings at almost twice the efficiency and add energy diversity as well."

For this project alone, the estimated savings would be around $500,000 a year.

"Another project was the installation of five gas-engine driven air conditioning units or gas heat pumps," Mr. Noble said.

These air conditioning units have a 16-horsepower engine which runs on natural gas. This helps reduce electrical transmission capacity problems and increase energy conservation.

Maj. Andy Middione, 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group deputy director, took the stage next, to discuss some of the projects and technology AMARG is currently working on.

"We have micro-turbine generators," Major Middione said. "They float on a cushion of air-bearings. They don't use any oil or oil filter and they have no coolant. They are very efficient and portable, so they can be used in multiple locations."

They also utilize a ceramic coating. This was to replace the white coating on aircrafts to help keep the bugs out of the crafts and to help keep the temperature down. While working with the ceramic coating, they decided that it would also help with facilities. AMARG now has the first modular office out in the desert that has the ceramic coating applied to it.

"We also have a dry-cell hydrogen injection system for vehicles," Major Middione said. "This is a commercial add-on, not a modification. It consists of a water tank, an electronic controller and a hydrogen generator. The gain from these is with diesel, we get between 20 and 22 percent improvement on miles per gallon and gasoline is as high as 24 percent."

The hydrogen system does not replace the fuel the vehicle uses. It provides about six percent of the engine's fuel requirement. The hydrogen is very high quality with 80 percent hydrogen, eight percent oxygen and 12 percent nitrogen. This system is completely self contained and can reduce exhaust emissions.

Having events like the energy symposium are a great way for industry leaders to share ideas on how the Air Force can become more fuel efficient and reduce its carbon footprint for generations to come. These projects are already helping the Air Force save a significant amount of money and as new technology and resources become available, there is no telling what the Air Force can do.