Save energy, save Luke’s dollars

  • Published
  • By Francisco Pardieu
  • 56th Civil Engineer Squadron
As the weather heated up in Phoenix this summer, a conversation topic in some offices
was discussing electric bills at home. If you think you were getting a bad deal, how would you like to get stuck with a multimillion-dollar electric bill? 

Luke pays around $4 million for electricity every year. Energy conservation should be on everyone's mind at work. Beyond the obvious benefits to the environment, reducing utility consumption directly affects the mission of the Air Force. Every dollar saved goes back to improve facilities, weapons modernization, and buying more spare parts. 

This is such an important matter that executive order 13423 was issued to strengthen federal environmental, energy and transportation management. One of the order's goals is to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through eduction of energy intensity by three percent annually through the end of fiscal year 2015, relative to the baseline energy use of fiscal year 2003. This means that Luke's fiscal year 2007 reduction must be at six percent or better. This translates to about five million kilowatt-hours. As of June, Luke's reduction efficiency was at eight percent. 

Luke is not a newcomer to this experiment. In fact, Luke has consistently met
or exceeded the goals set by the command.

Through funding of several energy improvement projects, Luke, through the years, has implemented many energy conservation measures, policies and guidelines to reduce the energy consumption of its aging infrastructure. 

However, these projects alone will not win us the battle for energy conservation. That's why Luke has asked for everyone's help. Luke members have responded through energy savings initiatives in work centers and suggestions sent to the save.energy@luke.af.mil mailbox. 

Luke needs Thunderbolts to continue efforts by doing simple things daily to save energy. 

Here are some tips: 

· Maintain heating and air conditioning equipment.
· Set the thermostat 76 to 78 degrees. Setting one degree higher can save about
two to three percent in cooling costs.
· Clean or replace air filters at least once a month.
· Keep doors and windows closed between areas cooled by air conditioning and swamp coolers.
· Set water heaters to 120 degrees.
· Turn off fans, lights and equipment in unoccupied offices and rooms.
· Use natural light to illuminate work areas if near windows.
· Ensure power management is properly setup on computers. Turn off monitors
when not in use. Monitors in the "sleeping" mode still consume 20 to 30 watts.
· Laser printers use 300 watts; inkjets use only 10 watts of electricity.
· For three or fewer copies, use a printer; for more, use a copier.
· Reduce the number of refrigerators, microwaves and small appliances in offices.
Use common areas. 
· Monitor outdoor lighting and limit its use.
· Turn off recreational lights on running track, fields and courts when finished.