AVT spearfishing team, base civil engineers track down energy savings

  • Published
  • By Susan Lawson
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Asset Visibility Team worked with base civil engineers at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, and Patrick AFB and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, recently to identify energy-saving opportunities and provide substantial savings for the Air Force.

One tool used by the AVT to identify energy conservation measures is the "spearfishing" methodology. The AVT coined the term "spearfishing" to describe an expedition that involves taking a deeper dive into rediscovering and harvesting previously-realized energy and water saving opportunities.

The spearfishing initiative is part of the AVT concept of operations which was put into place in 2014. Energy-saving opportunities that are identified can be funded either through AFCEC's "Just Do It," or JDI, funding list or the integrated priority list, or IPL.  The JDI funding initiative opened the door for the AVT to fund "micro" energy projects that are of work order scope, rather than project scope, while the IPL focuses on larger, long-term savings projects.

"Spearfishing has become effective because of the way the civil engineering enterprise has changed the business rules and added tools to give more flexibility for implementing savings opportunities. Rediscovering previously identified opportunities can now provide a real benefit, where previously there were obstacles to their implementation," said Michael Clawson, AFCEC Asset Visibility Division chief.

Base civil engineers and the AVT have collectively identified and validated $15 million in investments that could yield the Air Force over $51 million in potential operational energy savings across the 20 bases visited by the AVT. Since 2013, the $1.2 million of JDI funding invested at 20 bases will yield approximately $20 million in discounted operational and energy savings over its life cycle, Clawson said.

Members of the AVT have extensive Air Force base level experience as well as working knowledge of the Automated Civil Engineering System, or ACES, and Interim Work Information Management System, or IWIMS, software programs. They work closely with base energy managers, engineers and maintenance personnel to discover and validate opportunities.

"I work diligently with the base personnel to find those opportunities and dive deep into any avenue possible to find those projects that are eligible for JDI funding for long term projects for the base," said Dr. Ivonne "Ivy" Bates, electrical engineer and AVT member, who led the recent spearfishing expedition at Malmstrom.

The challenge during spearfishing is to sift through existing documents such as sustainable infrastructure assessments and energy audit reports to evaluate opportunities and validate currency and viability, Bates said. The spearfishing team collects data from the assessments and reports to evaluate energy data and perform comparative analyses of report findings.

The team also looks for new energy products and opportunities for using renewable energy and innovative technologies. While spearfishing, the team looks at buildings on the demolition list to see if there are high payback opportunities associated with consolidation of base facilities. They look at light-emitting diode, or LED, technologies for both interior and exterior applications such as street and parking lot lighting as well as other energy-saving devices that would produce energy or operational savings for the base. 

To learn more about the AVT, spearfishing for energy savings, or implementing operational and energy savings opportunities, contact the AFCEC Reach Back Center at afcec.rbc@us.af.mil or 850-283-6995.