Lakenheath residents become energy savvy

  • Published
  • By Amy Ausley
  • Air Force Civil Engineer Center Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Energy Action Month kicked off in a big way recently at RAF Lakenheath, England. Residents in military family housing are taking part in a three-month energy awareness trial program called the Resident Energy Efficiency Program, or REEP,  designed to reduce utility costs by 10 percent.

Five-hundred households have volunteered for the program, which is being run by the base housing office, and focuses on reducing electricity, water and gas usage. One of the goals of the initiative is to show residents how they can achieve big results with minimal impacts to their daily lives.

"We're not trying to change people's lifestyle," said Maj. Gregory Morissette, 48th Civil Engineer Squadron commander. "We're just asking them to make small incremental changes and we hope those changes will make a difference in our energy bill."

The cost of housing utilities for the tri-base area of RAFs Lakenheath, Feltwell and Mildenhall is currently $6.2 million per year. Morissett said the REEP program aims to reduce that number.

"If we were to save just 10 percent which is our goal, we would save $620,000 per year and that's a significant amount."

Each participating family received a package of tools they can use during the trial including a wireless energy monitor so families can get immediate feedback on changes to their electricity usage; a re-branded thermostat sticker for central air units converting temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit; a window sticker announcing their participation in the program; and an information pack with hints, tips and general information.

Participants must provide a beginning and ending meter reading. The house in each category which uses the least energy will receive a letter of commendation from command.

One of the interesting features of the program is the wireless meter provided to each household. It gives each resident a way to instantly see the impact of turning on or off just one appliance. For example, children can see the effect on energy usage each time they turn on a video game system or turn off lights as they leave a room and parents can see the benefit of turning off and unplugging simple appliances like toasters and coffee makers.

The base is collecting further baseline information from a mix of 20 houses from within the group of 500 volunteer homes. Five of those homes have solar panels and 10 others are providing the base with a cross section of size and type. Another five houses are being used as a control group so daily, weekly and monthly usage can be compared with similar homes with residents who aren't participating in the program and therefore didn't receive the tool kit.

The housing office coordinated with the energy office to make sure the REEP kick-off coincided with the beginning of Energy Action Month in October. Events are scheduled throughout the month to help raise energy awareness including presentations from local utility companies about how people can reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint.

If positive results are yielded from the three-month trial, the program will be rolled out across all MFH at Lakenheath, as well as Mildenhall and Feltwell. The results will also be passed along to U.S. Air Forces in Europe for consideration for command-wide implementation.