Key to energy reduction lies within

  • Published
  • By Daylon Edmisten
  • 509th Civil Engineer Squadron
WHITEMAN AFB, Mo --  You are the most important factor in energy conservation reduction at Whiteman Air Force Base and at your own home, whether on or off base. Without your input and actions no reduction can be accomplished. You have to become aware of how your actions affect everyone. 

By becoming energy aware you can help to reduce energy dependency and the adverse impact of that dependency on the mission or quality of life. 

To help you in this matter you need to know something about how to save energy. In what areas of your home and workplace can energy be wasted? 

This article will talk about various energy consuming components of our home and workplace and how you can increase the energy efficiency of those components. 

Some of the topics below will not apply to on-base residents, but are provided for the benefit of those members who reside off the installation. 

Heat is mainly lost during the heating season or gained during the cooling season by conduction and infiltration. 

Infiltration is outside air entering a building through cracks around windows, doors and through the outside shell of the structure. 

During the heating season, infiltration contributes to heat loss because cold infiltrated air displaces warm air and must be heated to maintain desired comfort conditions. During the cooling season the opposite occurs. 

The following are suggestions to help decrease infiltration both at home and at work. 

  • Make sure that all doors and windows are closed during heating and cooling seasons. 
  • If your home has unheated or cooled rooms, keep doors closed to prevent infiltration to conditioned spaces. 
  • Periodically check the weather stripping and caulking. If it is old and dried or peeling, be sure to repair or replace. 
  • Inspect for air leakage in and around electrical outlets. Material can be purchased to correct this. 
  • Check the amount of insulation in the attic. There should be an R-30 rating. 
  • If your home is cooled by a window air conditioner, make sure that they are covered and vents are closed during the heating season or have them removed whenever possible. 
  • In buildings with vestibules be sure that the doors are not propped open. This defeats the purpose of the vestibules.
  • Do not leave windows open in sleeping rooms. The excuse of needing fresh air to sleep is no reason to waste energy. 
Ventilation has a significant impact on a building's total energy consumption. 

Each unit of air brought into your facility must be heated or cooled and in some cases humidified or dehumidified. 

If excess air is allowed to enter the facility a considerable waste of energy is inevitable. The following are some suggestions on how to lessen the detrimental impacts that ventilation systems can have. 

  • Inspect the outside air damper. This is where your heating/cooling unit gets the outside air it conditions. Be sure the damper is not clogged or dirty. 
  • Only operate ventilation systems in occupied areas. Shut them off to unoccupied or unused areas. 
  • Make sure there are no leaks in the duct system. 
  • A poor ventilation system can be a source of odors. 
  • Never block air registers or return air outlets used by your furnace/central air conditioning system with furniture, draperies or carpets. 
  • The attic of the home needs to breath, so do not cover ventilation openings in the soffit of the house. 
  • Consider using a whole-house (attic) fan as part of your cooling strategy. A whole-house fan is installed horizontally in the ceiling below the attic. Whole-house fans consume considerably less energy than air conditioners. 
  • Replace filters periodically in the home heating/cooling systems. 
  • If you have reversible ceiling fans, set them in the winter to circulate the heated air collecting at the ceiling down towards the floor. 
Hot water can account for up to 10 percent of some facilities' energy usage. This is especially true for home usage. 

Usually hot water is supplied at a temperature that is too hot to be used directly. 

Cold water must be mixed with it at the tap. The following are some suggestions. 

Hot water for home usage should be set at 120 F unless you have an old dishwasher that does not have an internal heating element that can raise the temperature to 140 F. 
  • Install low-flow aerators on kitchen and bathroom sink faucets to save water and the energy used to produce hot water. 
  • Install low-flow shower heads. 
  • Install insulation on hot water piping and tanks. 
  • Repair all leaks, including those at the faucet. 
  • Always use cold water with the garbage disposal. Disposals are designed to work with cold water. 
  • If you need to rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, use cold water. 
  • Consider using cold water detergent in the washing machine. 
Thank you for your energy reduction efforts! We will continue to address additional areas for energy savings in future articles and you should feel free to call Daylon Edmisten at 687-2529, if you have additional questions.