FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Flipping a light switch, starting up a computer and turning on the coffee pot are regular occurrences in offices across Fort Drum.
One man has been given the daunting task of helping to cut down on energy costs on an installation where more than 30,000 people live, work and train.
Steve Rowley, Public Works energy manager, has been working at Fort Drum for nearly 30 years. From upgrading buildings with more energy-efficient equipment to promoting cost-saving designs on new construction, Rowley is helping the post save money from the type of light bulbs being used, the updated heating and cooling systems, solar power energy and more.
"I've been here 28 years; I started in 1986," he said. "I've always considered myself one of the new guys. I looked around the other day and I realized I'm now one of the 'old timers.'"
The big push around the federal government to find more renewable and sustainable sources of energy isn't a new thing, Rowley explained.
"Right after the first energy crisis with the oil embargo (in 1974) is when the federal government, including the Army, began to look at the whole issue of energy resources and energy conservation," he said. "They began to develop programs way back then. What we're doing today is just a continuation of that initiative."
From upgrading existing buildings to promoting energy-efficient designs in new facilities, Rowley is finding ways to save money across the installation. Many of the new buildings use high-tech methods to keep its occupants warm and happy.
"Due to the Corps of Engineers' proactive focus on energy efficiency and sustainability, we are seeing energy-efficient buildings with geothermal heating and cooling, optimal insulation values and high-efficiency lighting, pumps and motors, and condensing boilers in their designs," Rowley said. "We've been very proactive at that over the past 28 years. I'm concentrating now on the legacy buildings, which were built in the 1980s during the first expansion."
Rowley said he is now seeing an emphasis on retro-commissioning, or upgrading existing buildings' heating and air conditioning systems.
"The big push now is 'retro-commissioning,'" he said. "Two examples are the Commons, which we just finished retro-commissioning that building this year, and the other is Hays Hall. We're hoping to have a very comfortable heating and cooling system for the occupants in Hays Hall by next summer.
"That's a major part of what we do," Rowley added. "I'll continue the retro-commissioning until I retire or the day I die, whichever comes first!"
Some of the smaller projects do not require buildings to be uninhabited because the change is as simple as changing a light bulb.
"The future is LED lighting," Rowley said. "The Electric Shop at Public Works -- Scott Murphy and his crew -- have done a fine job on upgrading the airfield tarmac / runway lighting to LED. It saved 73 percent on energy use and cost and provided improved lighting. We are going to do more of that in the coming years, with the goal of replacing all of the yellow high-pressure sodium lighting (HPS lighting) with LED lighting. The first project will be at the airfield at the request of Joe White, airfield manager."
The Corp of Engineers has incorporated projects to make Fort Drum more energy independent with photo voltaic solar panels to produce electricity. There are four solar power systems located on the installation, the largest being at the Operational Readiness Training Complex Site located off of Route 26. The four rows of solar panels, which were commissioned in July 2013, power the ORTC site and barracks facilities.
"On peak sunny days, it provides more than enough power for the buildings," Rowley said. "The excess goes to our grid. At nighttime, it's the other way around."
Fort Drum is at an advantage because it has its own non-privatized power grid, he added.
"We just use the power that we make," Rowley explained. "If we don't use it on one building, it goes on through the wires and goes into the next building. All of these are tied into Fort Drum's electrical distribution system. The system runs more efficiently in cooler weather, balanced by the fact that we have less sunlight in the winter."
In all, the four solar power systems have saved Fort Drum more than $81,000 in electric costs to date, according to Rowley.
In addition to solar panels, 53 buildings on post use solar walls to preheat incoming ventilation air.
"You put the solar wall to the south of the building, the sun shines on the metal skin and a fan pulls air through little holes in the solar wall, captures the heat and ducts it into the building," Rowley said. "On a single-stage solar wall, you can get a 50-degree rise in temperature on a nice sunny day. If it's 30 degrees outside, we'll get 80 degrees discharged to the building."
Of the 53 buildings, eight boast two-stage solar walls, which can achieve a 100-degree rise in temperature, he said. The solar walls save the installation $32,000 in natural gas costs every year.
"I put them anywhere I can find a spot," Rowley said, with a laugh. "Mainly, solar walls are on large metal buildings like hangars or the hazmat building, because you need a lot of surface area on the wall and it has to face south."
While solar walls can be used on any type of building material, most of the larger buildings are metal, Rowley noted. Offices, unit headquarters and barracks buildings are not good candidates for solar walls because there are too many windows.
The other facet of Rowley's job is promoting energy awareness, which he does through classes. Each building on post should have an energy monitor to help look for common-sense solutions to prevent energy waste, Rowley explained.
"My intent on energy awareness is to make friends, not enemies," he said. "We want people to be comfortable in their workspace and save energy -- they aren't always mutually exclusive, particularly with retro-commissioning.
"Energy awareness is a lot like safety awareness," Rowley continued. "It's a matter of developing good habits, both at Fort Drum and at home."
In the class, Rowley discusses such topics as the different types of light bulbs that are available and how much cost-savings each provides, and setting computers to "sleep mode" when not in use.
"People can do simple things -- shut off the lights when they leave," he said. "When computers are left on, the CPU will draw 30 watts of electricity. If you put it on sleep mode, it will draw 3 watts of electricity."
Rowley added that he talked to a representative at the Network Enterprise Center and found that government computers can be switched to sleep mode. NEC employees can still push updates through and access the devices remotely.
The newer homes on Fort Drum also are energy-efficient, Rowley said.
"(Residential Communities Initiative) contractor has built over 1,586 NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) Energy Star homes," he said. "The new Energy Star-certified housing showed an annual relative savings of 6,959 mega Btu for gas and electric and $77,863 over comparable leased housing. In recognition of their achievement, Mountain Community Homes received the Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program's Energy and Water Management Award on Oct. 13, 2011."
The future
Mountain Community Homes will continue to refurbish existing homes to incorporate energy-efficient upgrades, including air sealing, lighting and HVAC systems, Rowley said.
"The goal is to bring all the housing units -- new and old -- up to the NYSERDA Energy Star standards," he said.
In November, the installation awarded a contract to ReEnergy, which will provide power to Fort Drum for the next 20 years. Lately, the Army's initiative has been focusing on energy security -- something the new ReEnergy plant will provide, according to Rowley. A loss of energy on an installation can shut the post down.
"(Along with) renewable energy, which is part of (the Army's energy) philosophy, is to protect the environment, reduce global warming and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. That reliance on foreign oil gets us into trouble."
Working to reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels started more than 10 years ago with former President George W. Bush, he added.
"The ReEnergy plant is certainly part of that strategy," Rowley said, adding that the privately owned and operated facility was redesigned from a coal plant to a biomass plant to burn forest waste and wood chips, which is a renewable source of energy. "How many Army posts can say that they use the utility grid as their backup?
"If the plant goes down, which it will from time to time, National Grid will kick on automatically to provide power; it will be seamless," he continued. "In the event of the next ice storm and area-wide grid outage, we can isolate from the utility grid and ReEnergy will continue to make power to serve Fort Drum. That gives us an immense amount of energy security."
Not only is the plant located on post, in a secure location, but it's locally grown fuel that is not subject to outages, unlike natural gas, oil, coal or other foreign sources, Rowley said.
"It is good for Fort Drum and good for the Army," he said.
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