AFMC Command News

WPAFB facilities make their mark with electrical signatures

  • Published
  • By Ted Theopolos
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  A signature is your own mark. It serves to identify who you are. A facility electrical signature works in the very same way. It's the electrical usage of a facility over a time span that can be measured by minutes, hours, days, weeks and even longer. Such signatures can help save the base energy, in turn saving the base and taxpayers money.

"A facility electrical signature can show how much energy is being used at any one time," said Gavin Jones, Base Energy manager. "Last year we added meters to buildings -- some got two because of their size -- so now we can get a signature of the metered buildings."

A graph with the electrical signature looks very much like a printed chart from a heart electrocardiogram machine with peaks and valleys.

"A typical graph can show us the date and time of high usages of kilowatts in a building," said Mr. Jones. "The peak electrical use is when people are at work. The electrical signature drops significantly after work hours and on weekends."

There are some buildings where the electrical signature doesn't drop, however.

"The computer center is one of the facilities where the electrical signatures don't change much from day to night operations," said Mr. Jones. "Their equipment runs continuously to serve the base."

The idea behind viewing electrical signatures is to find facilities that still have a high electrical signature on off-peak hours and on weekends. Once those buildings are identified, the need is to find what is causing the electrical usage and to turn it off.

Every month, the base spends about $1.7 million in electrical use. The most expensive month last year was August, with a cost of more than $2 million. Last year's total electrical cost was $20.7 million.

"The summer months are the most expensive," said Mr. Jones. "Air conditioning runs the utility cost up."

There are other factors that can also add to the cost. The base is billed by the electrical company by the highest 30-minute period of wattage used during the month. According to Mr. Jones, the labs run tests that require a lot of energy.

"The labs are really good about informing us about tests that will require a lot of energy," said Mr. Jones. "They run tests at night and on weekends to prevent a high peak usage.

For example, if they ran a test that required a large amount of power, 10 megawatts, during peak time when the majority of the workforce was still at work, it could cost the base an extra $130,000 for a 30-minute test period."

"There was no guidance on doing the facility electrical signature," said Mr. Jones. "We did this on our own to see if we could monitor electrical usage and determine if energy is being used wisely. We're currently looking at buildings 14 and 15 to see if we can bring down the electrical signature on the weekends."

"Reducing the facility electrical signature is not only good for the base and taxpayers, but for the environment as well," Mr. Jones said.