Ellsworth energy team saves money, earns award

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shanda L. De Anda
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. (AFPN) --  A five-person Ellsworth AFB team saved the base $470,000 in total energy costs for fiscal 2005 and received a 2006 Federal Energy and Water Management Award Oct. 5 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

This U.S. Department of Energy award recognizes the annual achievements in the category of energy efficiency and energy management with Ellsworth AFB's accomplishments recognized in the small group classification.

The 28th Civil Engineer Squadron Energy Management Team included Dennis Svalstad, 28th CES system engineering chief; Chris Tinsley, 28th CES engineering technician; Jon Rexroad, 28th CES engineering technician; Chuck Miller, Montana Dakota Resources project manager; and Lisa Teeslink, MDR assistant energy representative.

"I feel the biggest contributing factors to our team's receipt of this award are the exemplary utility energy services contract partnership between Ellsworth and the Montana Dakota Utilities (a subsidiary of Montana Dakota Resources Inc.), our utilization of the Keep a Student in School Program, the Ellsworth soft-sell approach and Ellsworth's efforts to obtain cost based utility rates," Mr. Svalstad said.

The team helped mitigate costs "by hiring local college students to alleviate the critical manpower shortage in our unit while providing valuable work experience for the students," Mr. Svalstad said.

Additionally, the utility energy services contract offered a unique partnership with local utilities whereby projects are mutually agreed upon. The goal of these contracts is energy-cost savings that finances the entire project in 10 years or less (15 years or less if financing is involved).

One such project was the recent $4.3 million utility energy services contract task order that encompassed 100 projects in 50 buildings.

"These projects are saving Ellsworth more than $472,000 annually in utility costs," Mr. Svalstad said. "The partnership between MDU and Ellsworth on projects like this in combination with the energy management efforts of the team has resulted in Ellsworth repeatedly exceeding Air Force energy consumption and cost reduction goals."

The 28th CES goes further in its commitments to producing overall savings for Ellsworth AFB by being an active participant in the Keep a Student in School Program. This hiring process further preserves Air Force resources as it faces budget challenges as the demand to recapitalize and modernize air, space and cyberspace systems increases.

From the first Ellsworth AFB-MDU project, a propane air mix plant completed in December 1998, which still saves Ellsworth AFB more than $1 million every year, the team has established a trend of overcoming challenges and consistently producing savings.