Base awarded $2,630,000 for ECIP projects

  • Published
  • By Virginia Clor
  • Del-Jen, Inc. energy manager and programmer
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  The Energy Conservation Investment Program has selected two Hanscom energy saving projects to fund for fiscal year 2008. 

The two Hanscom projects, which amount to $2,630,000, are among four projects selected from nine submissions from Air Force Materiel Command installations during a project call. 

"Any project that will reduce energy consumption, costs, provide savings in operating and maintenance costs and help achieve energy goals, can be considered an ECIP candidate" states the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Energy Conservation Investment Program Guidance dated March 17, 1983, accessible online at www.acq.osd.mil/ie/irm/Energy/Energy.htm. 

"Having two projects selected through ECIP will go a long way toward helping Hanscom and base personnel become better stewards of our resources by helping us to conserve and lower our energy and water consumption and freeing up constrained funds for other uses," said Base Civil Engineer Chris Perkins. 

The first of Hanscom's projects will repair 1,000 linear feet each of steam line and condensate line. Hanscom has almost 40,000 linear feet of each type of line buried underground. 

Steam lines carry steam into base facilities for heating purposes. Condensate lines carry the hot water that condenses out of the steam when it cools back to the base steam plant in building 1201 to be re-heated and re-used, said Engineering Manager Bob Notartomaso, Del-Jen, Inc. 

By replacing deteriorating and leaking lines, more of the condensate can be returned to the plant to be turned back into steam. This reduces the need to add new water, which requires more energy to heat than condensate. Additionally, new pipes have better insulation, which reduces the amount of heat lost in both steam and condensate lines, Mr. Notartomaso said. The project is intended to pay for itself within three years in savings. 

Hanscom's other ECIP-selected project is to install four new economizers and replace the blowdown heat recovery for the four boilers at the steam plant, which heat the majority of the base. This project is intended to pay for itself within four years in savings. 

By installing the new economizers, some of the waste heat that is in gases released by the boilers will be captured. This waste heat will be used to preheat the water before it is sent to the boilers thus lessening the amount of energy and fuel needed to turn the water into steam, Mr. Notartomaso said. 

The boiler blowdown process involves the removal of water from a boiler to remove accumulated dissolved solids and sludge, which negatively impact boiler efficiency and maintenance. 

Much of the heat from the blown down liquid is normally wasted. Some of this heat can be recovered by routing the liquid through a heat exchanger that preheats the boiler's makeup water, state Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technologies publications, accessible online at www1.eere.energy.gov/industry.     

ECIP is a military construction funded program intended primarily for accomplishing energy conservation retrofits of existing buildings. It includes construction of new, high-efficiency energy systems and modernization of existing systems. ECIP projects must have a simple payback of ten years or fewer, and a Savings-to-Investment Ratio greater than 1.25, states the Energy Conservation Investment Program Guidance.