Laughlin conserves energy, reduces footprint one project at a time Published Nov. 18, 2011 By Senior Airman Scott Saldukas 47th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- With today's fiscal limitations and focus on doing more with less, Laughlin is finding ways to save energy and money while getting the mission done. While executive orders in place state energy usage must be reduced by three percent and water usage by two percent annually until 2012, Laughlin embraced the order and began to deliver. The past two years, the 47th Civil Engineer Squadron and senior leaders here began to target older, less energy efficient and expensive to maintain buildings. Demolishing or closing the facilities will reduce the energy foot print by conserving energy and saving money. "In order for us to execute savings from the CE perspective, a lot of it has to do with the amount of facilities we have to maintain," said Jennifer Harris, 47th CES civil engineer. Recently in September, the old base movie theater and old temporary living facilities were approved for demolition. Although the TLFs officially closed in 2006, up to $20,000 was saved from routine maintenance and utilities. Harris also noted the demolition and consolidation list for 2012 was recently submitted and could potentially demolish or close 21 buildings, saving around $996,000 on maintenance and utilities. While the consolidation program seems to be the largest savings plan, Laughlin has many other on-going projects helping conserve energy and water. In September, David Morin, 47th CES, and senior leadership noticed a pond on the base golf course wasn't retaining water correctly and decided to do something about it. After looking into the problem, he realized that it was losing approximately one million gallons a month. Instead of constantly filling the pond, they decided to allow the pond to drain due high water usage. The saved water consumption cost should be around $23,000 a year. "We are recognized as a leader in our community and we have to be good stewards of our local resources by looking closely at our processes and making them more efficient," Morin said. Other processes that have been worked on or are ongoing are: - Due to the hot and dry climate in the area, key irrigation areas were chosen and upgraded and savings are estimated to be around $100,000. - No Heat No Cool. An initiative that deals with the time between summer and winter seasons which helps regulate drastic weather changes during that time with about $75,000 worth of savings. - Christmas shutdown. A time where temperatures are dropped in empty work centers, no flying takes place and maintenance is reduced to save $20,000. - A base-wide night lighting reduction scheme recently concluded that will now turn off any unnecessary lights and put timers on lights that are needed for an appropriate time frame, which is estimated to save approximately $8,000 yearly. "Laughlin is making great strides to conserve water, energy and ultimately money," Morin said. "With wing leadership's support, we have looked base-wide at our processes and identified areas that could be more efficient. In these times of limited funds, it is especially critical that we all look around our areas for energy and water savings opportunities."