NATICK, Mass. (March 24, 2016) -- U.S. Army Garrison Natick has reduced its energy consumption more dramatically in the last dozen years than any other installation in the Army.
Over that 12-year period, Natick cut its energy usage by a staggering 43.16 percent. Compared with the baseline year of 2003, Natick is unmatched.
"Given the fact that we've got the (Doriot Climatic Chambers) and some pretty high-consumption facilities here, that's pretty amazing," said Lt. Col. Ryan Raymond, USAG Natick garrison commander. "And that's even though we live in a high-cost-of-living area, where energy doesn't come cheap and we're not yet able to provide our own energy."
Raymond noted that Natick ranked No. 5 worldwide in 2014-15 among the 78 Army posts in the Installation Management Command, or IMCOM. Last year, Natick experienced a 10.65-percent reduction.
Savings have been achieved through an $8 million Energy Savings Performance Contract between USAG Natick and Pepco Energy Services. The contract, which will run 25 years, includes lighting upgrades, new windows and building envelope improvements, water conservation, energy management control system upgrade, and HVAC upgrades. The project began with a preliminary assessment in June 2012 and included a comprehensive energy audit.
Improvements made to 33 buildings on the Natick installation will result in annual savings of $540,000. They include $4 million in new windows and another $1.2 million in lighting projects.
Natick's upgrades should also have a significant, positive impact on the environment by reducing emissions.
"Ninety-five percent of the lighting has now been changed out to high efficiency," said Russ Stokes, Natick's Public Works director. "Another major factor in reducing our consumption was mothballing our old oil-fired boiler plant."
Personnel on the installation have aided the effort in small ways, such as turning out the lights and shutting off their computers before going home at night.
"They have played a role," Stokes said. "It's the right thing to do, so people should do it."
Stokes pointed out that tenant organizations have helped in the effort. For example, savings in the ESPC could not finance all window replacement, so the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center pitched in to fund the remaining windows on the three largest buildings.
The next step will be a focus on energy security and independence. A cogeneration system may be installed in the future, providing cooling and heating to the installation while providing electricity to a microgrid.
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