AFMC Command News

AFMC senior leader, community members talk energy, initiatives

  • Published
  • By Monica D. Morales
  • Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  While Air Force Materiel Command continues its facility energy and conservation efforts, there still remains an imperative need to engage in dialogue now to arrive at long-term preservation solutions in the future.

This was the message Paul Parker, AFMC Director of Communications, Installations and Mission Support, shared with a group of 17 civic leaders from across AFMC who met in the headquarters building at the end of March to discuss the command's energy program.

"This is a 25- to 30-year journey that we're on, and these are the type of issues we have to start thinking about right now," Mr. Parker said.

The AFMC commander's Community Liaison Program comprises civic leaders from the cities and towns where the command's installations are located. These leaders were invited by center or wing commanders to represent to General Hoffman their community partnerships with their installations. Meeting with command senior leaders twice a year enables these members to educate their communities about Air Force initiatives and challenges, while taking part in activities of mutual benefit.

Mr. Parker highlighted the command's vision of making energy conservation a priority as is set forth in the 2011 AFMC Energy Stewardship Campaign Plan, approved by AFMC Commander Gen. Donald Hoffman on March 4. The plan charts a way forward for the command to reduce its energy consumption, increase its energy diversity, and decrease dependence through the use of renewable energy.

"The energy installation plan lays out what's imperative to the command and provides direction as to where we need to be headed, as well as containing some fiscal realism," he said.

This is especially critical, according to Mr. Parker, because the nature of AFMC's work results in it being the Air Force's most facility, or process, energy-intensive command. AFMC's energy tab is two-thirds greater when it comes to its facility energy versus aviation fuel.

"We've got to tackle this issue and consider taking a different approach," he said. "That may mean having to give a really thorough look at how we go about tallying parts of that energy equation."

One way to tackle this challenge is through assessments of space and facility conditions, but also through forging partnerships with industry to understand how companies organize, prioritize and sustain their facilities.

Also key to contributing to this is changing the culture of how Air Force personnel think about energy conservation. This might translate as simply as office members flipping off light switches and turning off monitors -- essentially treating the Air Force's energy levels as they would the energy levels incurred at their own residences.

To initiate this change in culture, some AFMC bases are participating in contests that pit organizations, and even buildings, in a competition against one another to see which has contributed the most to energy savings.

Mr. Parker also shared with the community leaders how AFMC will be testing its readiness to withstand any future energy-related crises that might disrupt the mission. The need to examine this possibility stemmed from the findings of an energy assurance and security study, and prompted the command to create a tabletop exercise designed to analyze how Wright-Patterson would contend with a lack of supplied energy.

Wright Grid 2011, slated for April, will be a full-spectrum exercise aimed at encouraging this strategic thinking. It will bring together Wright-Patterson AFB and local energy providers to explore the implications associated with a scenario that would eliminate an energy substation critical to the base's infrastructure.

"By doing this, we're able to get together with all users and, when faced with a specific scenario, allow for 'discovery learning' in order to find a solution along the way," Mr. Parker said. "For example, it's one thing to check and see if generators work, but it's another to discover that they don't power on when they should."

Among questions from the community leaders on how best to help, Mr. Parker encouraged the leaders to take this dialogue back to their local communities in order to initiate a long-term conversation that might yield partnerships between their local energy providers and their respective bases' own utility exercises.