Operational Base Energy Smarts Finally Emerging - Bigtime

I few weeks ago I posted on "Hybrid Hopes for Greatly Reducing Operational Base Fuel Requirements"

Since then, two more things have come my way.  One was a note from DOD Energy friend and guru Scott Sklar of the DC-based Stella Group, who wrote thusly: 

I asked energy integrator MILSPRAY to bring the unit (mentioned in the post above) to Arlington two weeks ago for the military folks from the different services to 'kick the tires'.  This unit powered the corrosion facility (MCRF) in Quantico, VA from July - October (14 weeks) last year and the fuel savings versus a standard generator was 78.6% (wow), and the the same set-up at 29 Palms, CA. I am beginning to see better-engineered systems that can stand-alone or interact with on-site diesel generators seamlessly.

This is heavy duty news coming from Scott.

Also just received the DOE's Smart and Green Energy (SAGE) for Basecamps final report and it aligns quite nicely with the observations from the previous post. You can read the full document HERE, but just below you'll find the most important bits in summary form.

Hybrid Hopes for Greatly Reducing Operational Base Fuel Requirements

Sounds like a microgrid disguised as a generator.  See what you think:

Today, the U.S. military powers its operating bases with diesel generators that run continuously. The problem is that it’s difficult to match the generating capacity with the actual power load from air conditioners, electronics, and other gear, which fluctuates during the day and in different seasons. And when the demand for power is lower than the generator’s full capacity, the fuel efficiency drops off dramatically and the maintenance increases.

...

Earl Energy’s FlexGen “hybrid generator” is wired to a diesel generator running at full capacity, which is how it's most efficient. When there is excess power, the diesel generator charges the batteries. If the batteries have enough stored energy to meet the demand for electricity, then the generator shuts off. In tests in Afghanistan, the Earl Energy system allowed the generators to run three to six hours a day, compared with around the clock before it was installed, says Doug Moorehead, the CEO of Earl Energy.

Often in stories like these there's a rub.  But if those real-world results from Afghanistan were achieved without any many compromises, then this is clearly a big win in an area we've made almost no progress for decades.  Will be keeping an eye on Moorehead and Earl Energy for sure.

Full IEEE Spectrum article: HERE.

You're Invited to DOD "Power Surge" Energy Security Webinar

I have a one-time special good deal for you, DEB aficionados.  You are cordially invited to a briefing announcing the research findings from:

Power Surge: How the Department of Defense Leverages Private Resources to Enhance Energy Security and Save Money on U.S. Military Bases

Date: this Thursday, January 16, 2014
Time: 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. EST
Access: Click here to log into the webinar

Event Overview:

Deployment of clean energy technologies is accelerating across military installations operated by the U.S. Department of Defense, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew’s new report, “Power Surge,” examines how the military is using private-sector capabilities and harnessing innovative financing to obtain advanced energy systems. These projects are helping the Pentagon enhance mission assurance, save money, and meet congressional and executive branch requirements. The briefing will review the military’s progress on meetings its renewable energy and efficiency goals and how it’s funding the initiatives. The report will be available online starting 16 Jan 2014 at    www.pewtrusts.org/energysecurity.

Presenters:

• Phyllis Cuttino, director, clean energy program, The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary for the Army, energy and installations
• Scott Provinse, director of government programs, Sun Edison
• John Warner, former U.S. senator and secretary of the U.S. Navy, and senior adviser to the Pew project on national security, energy, and climate

I'll be online, and hope you can make it too!  ab

BTW, if the direct link does not work, go to www.webex.com and enter:
Meeting Number: 636 286 510, Password: Clean123

USN: "Save Energy Unless You Can't"

Hat tip to CAPT Jim Goudreau, Dir Navy Energy Coordination Office, for the heads-up on this brief article and apologies for the latency in getting it posted.

The Navy continues to be active in tuning its policies to more fully account for the operational constraints of fuel dependency and the wins that can be derived from more energy efficient systems and energy conserving behaviors.

From the official "Navy Live" blog:

The key ... is that energy-saving practices must evolve from “Save energy when you can” to “Save energy unless you can’t.” Institutionalizing and codifying energy savings throughout the fleet will enable us to continue meeting our national defense mission and fulfilling combatant commander requirements, while conserving vital energy resources and conserving scarce defense dollars that the Navy can apply to other priorities, such as maintenance and modernization.

Short, sweet, and comprehensively applicable to all manner of lifecycle and strategy considerations. You can read the whole post HERE.

Geiss on Air Force Energy Progress - Sep 2013 Update

Hat tip to OSD's Ollie Fritz again (and again).

Straight up, here are highlights from an interview with Dr Kevin Geiss, DASAF for Energy, from a recent article: "A more fuel-efficient Air Force"

Eighty-four percent of the Air Force’s annual $9 billion energy budget pays for jet fuel, and of that 60 percent is for 900 mobility flights per day moving cargo and people.

Even though the service has no control over fuel costs or the missions it is called to serve, it aims to “get better [energy efficiency] at every flight,” says Kevin Geiss, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy.

Dr. Geiss outlined some of the service’s energy-saving efforts in a recent interview:

A New TET Offensive: Navy Transportation Efficiency Breakthrough

Thanks to OSD's Ollie Fritz for flagging this. With help from the forward looking Office of Naval Research (ONR), this new rather low-tech energy saving breakthrough is called the Transportation Exploitation Tool or TET for short.

Here's an example of how it works:

Imagine a scenario where a U.S. Navy ship in a foreign port urgently needs a particular engine part to complete its mission. TET allows the user to simply enter what cargo needs to be shipped and where it’s going, and then provides the planner with all available space on transports across military and commercial sectors, with recommendations for the most efficient routes. 

Previously, planners had to search multiple databases to access all civilian and military space availability, which could require hours or even days. In the worst cases, separate flights had to be chartered.

You can read the full piece HERE.

Photo credit: Marines.mil

Conference Alert: Defense Energy Summit

Haven't been this enthused about an energy conference since GovEnergy (RIP).  The line-up of speakers would be hard to beat. Though there's a caveat.

The vast majority of senior DOD and government speakers haven't yet confirmed, most likely due to frozen travel budgets (tagged with * below). Maybe some of them, like Senator Cornyn, even though Texas is a quite large, can simply drive. But the challenge is more significant for Washingtonians.

Listed Speakers

• Sharon Burke, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs US Department of Defense
• Jonathan Powers, Federal Environmental Executive, The White House
• Senator John Cornyn, State of Texas*
• Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense*
• Richard Kidd IV, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy & Sustainability, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army Installations, Energy & Environment, US Army*
• General Martin Dempsey, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff*
• Thomas Hicks, Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy/Deputy Chief Management Officer, US Navy*
• Kevin Geiss, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics, US Air Force*
• John Lushetsky, Executive Director, Army Energy Initiatives Task Force, US Army*
• Honorable Katherine Hammack, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy & Environment), U.S. Army
• Chris Smith, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy US Department of Energy

Nevertheless, the program looks very strong with or without the keynotes. I'll be there for sure.*

Details

When: November 11-13, 2013
Where: Austin, TX
For more info and to register: www.defenseenergy.com

We Needed it but Didn't Have it. Now it's 2013: Is Better Field Generation for DOD Here Yet?

Since this blog's inception, we've been calling for accelerating the work to improve the efficiency of field generators.  In the context of rising assaults (and many successful attacks) on fuel convoys in Afghanistan, here's a DEB post from 2009, referencing a similarly aligned point of view at NDIA, pleading for speed.

Now Federal News Radio covers a recent announcement that the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is getting closer to fielding a practical 10 kilowatt fuel cell generator.  Cumbersomely designated: "Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Tactical Electrical Power Unit" the benefits jump right out are you:

• Require approximately half the fuel to generate the same output
• Much quieter
• Smaller - easier to transport

Drawbacks in include a longer start-up time, and almost certainly until production ramps up, higher acquisition costs.

But for sure, using the Fully Burdened Cost of Fuel (FBCF) metric will show these units are massively more cost effective over the full lifecycle.  And they'll save lives by requiring fewer and/or smaller convoys and by being harder to detect.

Unfortunately, despite the optimism from ONR, sounds to me like deployment may still be years off. I wonder if they can be better marketed to the private sector, hungry for better disaster preparedness and resiliency solutions in the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Sandy and others.  That kind of market demand would could be a real expediter.  ... and perhaps a different name :)

Here's the full article.

2013 TIDES DOD/USG Energy Technology Demos Coming to You ... Now

Correction just in:

The TIDES Demo is NOT this week but in October. We have a large TIDES Demo at Fort McNair from 1-4 OCT and a smaller display inside the PENTAGON COURTYARD from 7-9 OCT.

-----------------------
Well, that is if you work at Fort McNair or the Pentagon. Or if you live nearby, and convince them to let you in. This blog first covered the STAR-TIDES program back in 2008, but it's a great success and just keeps humming along.  Let's revisit the acronym before we begin:

STAR = Sustainable Technologies, Accelerated Research.

TIDES = Transportable Infrastructures for Development and Emergency Support. 

Got it?  OK, thanks to National Defense University's Lou Elin Dwyer for the heads-up and most of the verbiage on this. And BTW, this is going on right now at Fort McNair and next week at the Pentagon!

I'll get out of the way and let Lou Elin do the talking:

This year's theme is "Innovate, Improve, and Imagine: Operational Solutions for Stressed Environments" This event is widely attended by the Department of Defense officials; government agencies (DOE, USAID, DHS, FEMA, State Department, as well as an array of private, for-profit and non-profit organizations.

Major SPIDERS Update, Advancing Energy Security & Barbarians at the Gate

This mega post just in from Mr. Harold Sanborn, Program Manager at Construction Engineering Research Lab (CERL), US Army and technical manager for the SPIDERS Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD).  It's chock full of good news and you'll want to read it top-to-bottom to get the full picture. ab

Starting from the vantage point (30 years of civil service) that "no good idea goes unpunished" allows me the freedom to work complex problems knowing that the threat of doom comes with the territory. Being twisted and enjoying pain keeps me in the zone.

SPIDERS Phase I has finished the "history tour" as we codify and publish the lessons learned. First lesson, see sentence one... Acquisition of both Military Construction and Research and Development on the same contract at a firm fixed price (not a cost plus AFRL contract) isn't done every day. The Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) guidance for a minimum of Technology Readiness Level 6 as a pre-condition, to accelerate the deployment of technologies, while needing to leave behind a functioning, sustainable and useful real property improvement in energy security, stretches one's mind. Arguably we accomplished what we set out to do.

Air Force Accelerates Energy Culture Change for Airmen

USAF's just-released energy culture plan is drawing some praise from folks in the right places. Here's what Jerry Dion of DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy division has to say:

I am particularly impressed with their segmentation of the target audiences by AF job clusters and tailoring of messages/actions. That they have avoided the usual defaults of asking individuals to turn off lights and computers when not in use, and have really looked at the full scope of the AF enterprise in terms of people and what they do individually and as work groups is evidence of a very serious approach. The plan includes reaching out to the other services to share what they have done - more of that is needed.

You can see the Air Force's new Energy Culture plan HERE. 

I also note the prominence of metrics in this doc. Granted, much of it is fuzzy, but the impulse to measure is clearly there, and metrics can always be refined over time. On the DOD Energy Blog we promoted metrics in Operational Energy way back in 2009 in this NDU paper.

BTW, Dion is also leading the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP)'s Institutional Change activities as well, and says they've reached a point where they want more visibility after developing the foundation for engaging with agencies. You can reach him thusly: jerry.dion@ee.doe.gov.

Photo credit: www.airlinebuzz.com

Conference Alert: American Energy Security Summit

Hat tip to IBM colleague Tim F for sending this our way.  As he says, could this be the successor to the once mighty GovEnergy (RIP)? Not sure, but it may be worth keeping an eye on.

Some of the topics it will cover include:

• Federal energy priorities, programs, and contracts, featuring the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal agencies
• Energy efficiency priorities, including achieving net zero installations and advanced lighting solutions
• Clean energy priorities, including biofuels for jets and electric and natural gas-powered ground transportation

No speakers or DoD participants listed yet, but the dates are 5-6 Aug 2013 and the location is DC

Here's the LINK for more.

The Future of Naval Installation Energy is Upon Us

As projected several years ago in this great 5-minute video, paving the way for demand management, energy efficiency, microgrids, support for renewables and all manner of support-the-mission, energy security goals (with cybersecurity baked in, to boot).



From all accounts, the folks involved with this initiative are right on schedule and are meeting their objectives. Recommend you keep an eye on this.  Andy

New Report out on DOD Energy Innovation Looks at Past and Points to Future

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a K Street research firm, has just published a report describing DOD energy policies and actions to date, with an eye on what's likely coming up in the near-to-mid term future.

For some DOD Energy Blog readers who might lament some aspects of DOD energy moves to date, the report contrasts DOD vs. US national leadership on energy matters:

National U.S. policymakers have failed to implement a robust and cohesive clean energy innovation strategy. In comparison, DOD has embarked on a multi-year effort to develop and procure low-carbon energy technologies and fuels to increase national energy security and improve safe energy access for the Armed Forces.

In 2011, the DOD released Energy for the Warfighter: Operational Energy Strategy, a plan for addressing its energy-related challenges. Included in the plan are three strategic goals that reflect these challenges and guide its investment decisions: 1) More fight, less fuel; 2) More options, less risk; and 3) More opportunity, less cost

Definitely a reminder, not only of how far we have yet to travel, but how far we've come. You can read the whole report HERE. Andy

Farrell says Stay the Course on DOD Energy Diversification

With the rash of stories this past year on failures of US solar companies, the lack of speedy adoption of electric vehicles, and the boom in un-conventional natural gas and oil, occasional readers of the DOD Energy Blog might wonder whether renewables and energy efficiency have lost some of their luster for operational and facilities energy applications.

Well, the June edition of National Defense leads with a piece called "New American Oil Boom: "Will it Slow DOD's Renewable Energy Momentum?" which convincingly refutes the idea that energy leaders have taken their eye off the alternative energy strategy ball. National Defense magazine has long had a strong focus on energy matters, thanks to the leadership and insight of its President, retired USAF General Larry Farrell.

Reminding us of how tightly bound the DOD remains to oil, Farrell says:

When speaking of petroleum, independence is a myth, regardless of where it comes from. The fact is that, for transportation energy, there is no diversity of supply or source.

And looks a few years into the future:

Diversity has strengths of its own. The current positive situation of domestic supply will last a few years at best — perhaps out to 2030 or so. At some point global demand and increasing difficulties to get supplies will catch up. 

Concluding with a vote of confidence that DOD leadership is still on point on energy strategy:

We have the gift of time to address the problem. Knowledgeable leaders in the Defense Department realize this. It is unlikely that they will slacken their efforts to bring solutions to operational capability. There really is no other choice. 

I believe Farrell's observations and conclusions are correct, but Dan and I would be happy to hear if you see things the same way.  Andy Bochman

Big Coalition Jumping on Energy Efficiency (EE) Bandwagon ... how about DOD?

Jesse Berst's SmartGridNews.com site recently featured a short article announcing the formation of SPEER (which stands for South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource), as well as outlining its objectives, which include initially:

Concentrating on energy efficiency training and education programs and on coordinating energy efficiency codes, programs and standards.

You may find a lot that's useful on SPEER's resources page, HERE, including a document I really like the looks of, a guide for baselining energy efficiency programs at utilities that I think offers a lot for installations as well.

Dan's more up to speed on current EE policy and actions in the Department, but I feel like  high profile renewables projects and alt fuels initiatives are getting the lion's share of attention.

On the other hand, EE is the less glamorous but often biggest-bang-for-the-buck counterpart to all attempts to improve operational and facilities energy security, and I'd want to make sure I'd exhausted all my low hanging and mid hanging fruit EE opportunities before I started allocating the larger dollars for solar, wind, alt fuels, etc.

Before I sign off, please note that one person shining a steady light on EE opportunities on the operational side of the equation is Sharon Burke, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs, and you can see some of her recent comments and links on her active Facebook page HERE.

Kudos for leveraging social media, a most energy efficient means for getting the word out. Andy Bochman

Local Energy Efficiency Co. Makes Good (with DOD)

Local to me, that is. Also local to the point of origin of the USA. That's Lexington, Mass-based FirstFuel Software. The company and its product sound solid, though I'm sure Dan's going to ask why they're not called FifthFuel.

We blogged on the OSD's installation energy test bed program a few months ago HERE, and in one of the embedded links, you can find DOD's description of how it intends to explore FirsFuel's capabilities:

This project will demonstrate the Rapid Building Assessment tool for DoD buildings, a software powered information service for accelerative energy efficiency adoption across building portfolios. The tool uses statistical methods and advanced data mining techniques to provide building-specific performance benchmarks and custom recommendations.

We all know that the numbers of DOD buildings and the square feet they contain boggle the imagination and dwarf Walmart. Now here's what appears to be an ultra-low touch method for rapidly assessing energy performance and identifying the lowest hanging fruit improvements in each across the entire fleet.

You can read a little more on this at online tech-zine Xconomy, one of the best technology news sources you've never heard of. Hmmm, and while they're at it, maybe DOD can test your house (and mine)! Andy Bochman

Energy Efficiency is New Dream Fuel

Not to be confused with the Luc Besson 90's sci fi flick, The Fifth  Element, the Fifth Fuel is neither film nor fuel. Nor is it fossil or renewable.

Rather, it's an abstract concept: it is the fuel (or other energy source) you didn't need to use because you were kicking butt on energy efficiency (EE), having converted your energy operations from a ravenous beast into a lean, mean, energy sipping machine.

If you've been working in the energy sector for longer than a few milliseconds, you'll recognize the name Daniel Yergin (more about him and his most recent book HERE). Also my colleague Dan mentioned this piece in a comment on his most recent post. Well, Yergin just penned a short piece showcasing the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner as a Fifth Fuel exemplar system.

This excerpt from the Yergin article really gets me:

The decision to go for efficiency in the Dreamliner was resulted from a democratic vote that resembled an Iowa presidential caucus. In the early stages of the design process, Boeing invited representatives of 59 airlines to Seattle to take part in an election. There were just two candidates: A new jet that would go 20 percent faster versus a new jet 20 percent more fuel efficient. All in favor of more speed were to walk to one side of the room; all in favor of 20 percent more fuel efficiency, to the other side. It was a rout -- 59 to zero in favor of efficiency.

You might also want to check out "Financing the Fifth Fuel" wherein you'll find references to Duke Energy's CEO, the Mckinsey consultancy, and the mighty Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) making the clear cut business case for, and outlining the steps towards the wider adoption of, the Fifth Fuel energy efficiency concept.

It concludes thusly:

I would expect that ... models ... for financing the fifth fuel will become more commonplace ... as the imperative for more aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency becomes stronger with each passing day. We should begin anticipating that eventually the biggest problem with these approaches will be answering the “too good to be true” perception. After all, who in their right mind would turn down the opportunity to save money instantly, without any cash outlay?

And I conclude with the following question: If the Fifth Fuel is EE, can you name the other four?

Dan and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Andy Bochman

Image credit: Boeing

Testing 1, 2, 3: DOD Facilities Energy Test Bed Project Winners for 2012 Announced

575 tried, 27 succeeded. That's less than a 5% acceptance rate ... tougher than getting into Harvard or MIT I think. But well worth the effort, if some of these energy, energy efficiency and energy security strategies pan out.

OSD has just announced its list of approved test bed pilot projects, each one targeting an aspect of facilities energy use improvement. Categories include objectives with terse titles like:

• Installation of a Nanotechnology Membrane HVAC System
• Model-Driven Energy Intelligence
• Sodium-Metal-Halide Battery Energy Storage for DoD Installations

And then there are projects whose backers couldn't, or wouldn't, limit their verbosity:

• Grid-Interactive Renewable Energy Generation System with DC-Link Battery Storage Integration Capable of Hybrid Microgrid Operation to Increase Energy Security on DoD Installations

Try turning that into an acronym! And finally, technologies that sound like they could double as weapons when not helping improve energy efficiency:

• Kinetic Super-Resolution Long-Wave Infrared Thermography Diagnostic for Building Envelopes

Sounds a little like ARPA-E territory, doesn't it? Though these technologies are closer to being field-able than the world-changing, very high risk / very high reward projects ARPA-E goes after.

See below for links to more DOD energy test bed information and activities:

• The full list and a few more details are HERE
• Installations Energy Test Bed description, HERE, including contact info
• DOD/EPA/DOE Energy Test Bed symposium coming up next week (11/29-12/1) in DC. Link HERE

Ever Consider having your Installation Whispered?

We've all seen the numbers before. The short version is goes like this: DOD dwarfs Walmart when it comes to number of square feet of buildings owned, maintained, powered, heated and cooled in the USA and elsewhere.

The amount of energy consumed by the world's largest fleet of buildings is enormous, as is the amount of energy wasted due to inefficiencies of every conceivable kind.

Well, there are folks working this challenge, such as my colleague and friend, the mighty Dave Bartlett (pictured, imposingly, above). You care read a bit more about Dave and what he and folks like him do HERE.

As you can imagine, there are cultural as well as technical barriers to work through. Especially for DOD bases that have been able to achieve some good energy savings in recent years and feel like there are no more low hanging energy efficiency fruit to pick, I like this note re: one of IBM's own facilities:

The Rochester campus had recently undergone a comprehensive energy audit resulting in double-digit energy conservation. It seemed highly unlikely to the facilities operations professionals at the campus that anything more could be done. “They (facilities operations personnel) told me that they were already doing everything that could be done to save energy,” said Bartlett. “But we achieved a 3 percent energy reduction in the first few months, and within nine months we managed to get an eight percent reduction in energy use. The work is also estimated to reduce maintenance costs for the site by 5-10 percent,” he added, “and that is real gravy on top of the energy savings.”

If this is right, there are a ton of high ROI opportunities out there for the Services to go after. Makes me want to shout! aab

Photo Credit: Association for Facilities Engineering