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March earns two fuel efficiency incentives

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kathleen Ferrero
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  The 452nd Air Mobility Wing finished Energy Awareness Month with a bang by winning two Air Mobility Command fuel efficiency incentives. The wing will receive $50,000 for the "Most Improved Wing" incentive and another $50,000 for the "C-17 Wing Auxiliary Power Unit Use" incentive.

This is the third year of Air Mobility Command's Facility Energy Incentive Award program and the first year incentives were given for aviation fuel efficiency.

Mobility Air Force wings have been reporting aviation fuel data through a Web-based tracker since 2009, but in many cases, units didn't know incentives would be given for this year's top performers.

"It's an early Christmas present for the wings," said Maj. Darren Loftin, AMC Fuel Efficiency Office.

Loftin explained that the information the wings report has established metrics that will help the MAF achieve its energy efficiency goals. The fuel efficiency office is working with headquarters Air Force to release an Air Force Instruction that will specify future incentive categories to directly compete for awards.

"The MAF leadership provided $2.3 million in incentives to the wings, but we estimate we saved $31 million in O&M this fiscal year," said Col. Bobby Fowler, AMC Fuel Efficiency Office Chief.

To determine the winner of the FY 2011 "Most Improved Wing" incentive, the fuel efficiency office established a baseline for each wing with the first three months of data. Over the next nine months, they analyzed the wings' data month-by-month. In FY 2011, the 452 AMW had the biggest gains in aviation energy efficiency.

March's second incentive was for lowest per sortie use of C-17 Globemaster III auxiliary power units. The C-17 goal is to limit the use of APUs to 45 minutes before takeoff and 30 minutes after landing. Using ground power units takes extra coordination with maintenance crews, but it is worth the effort because APUs burn approximately six times more fuel than ground power units, said Chuck Stiles, an AMC fuel efficiency analyst.

The other categories for fuel efficiency incentives are:
➤ sortie reporting rate (highest sortie reporting percentage),
➤ ramp fuel accuracy (highest percent accuracy between planned and actual ramp fuel),
➤ fueling accuracy (minimizing the number of over-fueled sorties),
➤ cargo accuracy (highest percent accuracy between planned and actual cargo weight on mission legs),
➤ time in tanks (lowest average when landing fuel is converted to minutes of flying time), and
➤ offload accuracy (highest percent accuracy between planned and actual air refueling offload).

In this year's Facility Energy Incentive Award program, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., earned the top prize of $100,000. Joint Base Charleston, S.C., received $75,000 and Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., received $50,000.

Wing leaders can use the money at their discretion but are encouraged to reinvest it in future initiatives, said Mr. Steve Kalmer, AMC energy and utilities engineering program manager.

For example, in 2010 Dover Air Force Base, Del., reinvested its $50,000 incentive in a solar hot water system for one of its dormitories, with construction scheduled to begin in January, said Mr. Charles Mikula at the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., used its $75,000 to help fund an 18-vehicle solar carport structure, said Mr. Barry Miller, base resource efficiency manager.

With its fiscal year 2010 award of $100,000, Travis AFB officials purchased two vertical axis wind turbines to install on the golf course and invested in a human powered gym, which would use retrofitted elliptical machines to capture energy generated by the exercisers, said Ms. Allison Greco, 60th Civil Engineer Squadron.

On the installations side of the house, Travis AFB led the individual and unit-level honors this year, receiving more than $200,000 in combined incentives. During fiscal year 2011, Team Travis worked on new energy projects that are expected to reap more than double the investment in savings.

As part of their effort, they conducted a rigorous awareness campaign that helped to slash electricity use by seven percent in just one month, thanks in part to individual top winner, Ms. Allison Greco, of the 60th Civil Engineer Squadron.

Megan Just contributed to this story.

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