Research Horizons Magazine
November 19, 2004

Gung Ho for Saving Energy: Georgia Tech Helps the Marine Corps Cut Energy Costs by $1.85 Million

An energy conservation analysis by a team of Georgia Tech researchers is expected to save the U.S. Marine Corps about $1.85 million annually at seven bases in California and Arizona.

Cpl. Jason R. Slemmer works inside a Camp Pendelton warehouse lit by energy-efficient T-5 high-output fluorescent lamps. Georgia Tech energy specialists helped the U.S. Marine Corps identify energy savings that could amount to $1.8 million a year. Photo: Lance Cpl. K.T. Tran, courtesy USMC

Researchers recommended 75 energy conservation opportunities that will allow the Marines to recover an estimated $4.9 million investment in about 2.7 years, says Bob Martin, a Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) engineer who led the 12-member team of GTRI and Economic Development Institute (EDI) researchers in the project in 2003.

The effort was part of the Western Power Grid Peak Demand and Energy Reduction Program led by prime contractor Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation of Huntsville, Ala. This project also included researchers from Texas A&M University, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

“California’s recent power crisis provided the impetus for this project, but it was one of many programs aimed at cutting energy costs,” says Bill Meffert, manager of energy and environmental management services at EDI.

Some facilities, including Twenty-Nine Palms and Camp Pendleton, resemble commercial facilities with an emphasis on conserving energy in building systems such as lighting and air conditioning. They had already implemented numerous conservation projects.

“The easy projects had already been done,” Martin says. “We had to dig into systems performance to find opportunities.”

Other places, such as the Logistics Center at Barstow, worked more like an industrial plant. “This is where we shine,” says Meffert, noting that the team found more than $833,000 in annual savings, or some 20 percent of the base’s yearly energy expenditures.

Audits, surveys and data logging resulted in recommendations as simple as decommissioning old paint booths and as complex as recovering heat from the exhaust of a thermal regenerative oxidizer.

"We found that industrial systems haven’t gotten nearly the attention that building systems have,” Meffert adds.

With this work complete, Georgia Tech hopes to apply the lessons learned to Georgia’s Warner Robins Air Logistics Center and the Albany Marine Corps Logistics Base — with their heavy maintenance activities. Researchers have submitted a proposal to the Federal Energy Management Program.

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MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACTS: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu); Fax (404-894-4545) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu).

TECHNICAL CONTACTS: Bob Martin (404-894-8446); (bob.martin@gtri.gatech.edu) or Bill Meffert (404-894-3844); (bill.meffert@edi.gatech.edu).

WRITER: Lincoln Bates