Energy Awareness Month highlighted on Hurlburt Field Published Oct. 6, 2006 By Jennifer Cooper 16th CES HURLBURT FIELD, Fla -- October is Energy Awareness Month, and many people on base are helping Hurlburt conserve energy without even realizing it. The 16th Civil Engineer Squadron worked behind the scenes and completed a $2.7 million energy project in August 2005. The project included retrofitting lights in 45 buildings, installing low-flow toilets and faucets in 24 buildings, replacing pump motors in two buildings and constructing a $1.3 million chiller plant. This project increased the lighting quality in all the facilities plus saved the energy consumed. In addition, it provided new cooling equipment in two dorms, conserving more than 4,499 thousands of gallons of potable water per year. This project has an estimated savings of 18,771 million British thermal units per square foot, $320,000 per year. The payback time is 12.5 years. The energy savings will pay for the entire project. This project is a Utility Energy Service contract project, and is a partnership between the local utility company and the government. The local utility company becomes the contractor and financier for the energy project, and the government repays the utility company a set payment. The payment amount is based on the energy savings of the project. More importantly, the plant construction didn't put a dent in the already over-taxed lean operations and management budget, saving Hurlburt $300,000 in the base construction budget. Therefore, we are using the savings to pay for all of the work plus reducing our base energy and water consumption. It's truly a win-win scenario for the base, community and environment.