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Shaw observes October's Energy Awareness Month

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Steven Stanton
  • 20th Civil Engineer Squadron
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  The members of Shaw Air Force Base's Energy Optimization Program want all Airmen, civilians and contractors at Shaw to treat their office and professional work environment as they do their home and reduce energy consumption to the best of their abilities.

The topic is a timely one, as Shaw and the Air Force places emphasis on observing the month of October as Energy Awareness Month.

"This year's theme, 'Think Green, Build Green, and Fly Blue,' is already reflected in much of what is taking place at Shaw," said Roger Bricker, Shaw's resource efficiency manager.

"Shaw's energy bill was more than $650,000 in the month of August, and there are many actions individuals on base can take to help lower that amount," Bricker said.

Most of those actions involve simply turning things off.

"Think about ways you save money at home," Bricker said. "The same things can save you money here. Remember you pay taxes too, and they go toward running this Air Force base."

The EOP encourage base employees to take the following actions:

- Turn off lights in offices and conference rooms when they are not occupied or won't be in use for 15 minutes or more.
 
- Turn computer monitors to "off" at night. However, leave your computer "on." The Communications Group has programmed most computers to go to enter the energy-saving "sleep" mode after they have been idle for a period of time. This allows the Communications Group to "wake up" the computer if they have to push an update down to an office computer.

- Notify your facility manager if you have problems with an air conditioning system in your office so that the facility manager can call civil engineer customer service to have the problem reported and corrected as soon as possible.

"With budget constraints, money is going to get tighter," Bricker added. "We have to find ways to reduce. When it comes to reducing energy consumption and saving money, what seems like an insignificant amount helps because it all adds up."