NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic holds Energy Industry Day

By Tom Kreidel, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic Public Affairs

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Mid-Atlantic held their first Industry Energy Day April 15.

More than 100 local contractors attended the event to discuss the command's vision for the Mid-Atlantic Region's energy program as well as tentatively planned energy projects scheduled for execution in FY-2011 and beyond.

NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic Executive Officer, Capt. John Heckmann discussed four major areas: energy use reduction, renewable forms of energy, metering and benchmarking, and sustainable facilities.

"I think gatherings like these are important," said Heckmann. "It gives us a forum to lay out our goals and challenges. For our contracting partners, it's a great way to assess how they can possibly be part of the way forward."

Heckmann reminded the attendees the Navy is focused first on reducing energy consumption. At shore installations this means much attention on facilities and utility infrastructure. Energy conservation technology is becoming more into the mainstream of the project development and design process.

All new construction contracted by NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic will be Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design (LEED) Silver certified, designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources.

Heckmann said the Navy is looking at metering and benchmarking energy use with "smart meters" to better identify exactly when and where facilities are using the most energy, as a method to find ways to use less. With this added fidelity of consumption use, building occupants can more readily see how their operations affect energy costs.

The group was also briefed on the different types of contracts the Navy uses for energy projects, the different types of proposals used for these projects, along with discussing some projects that are in the works and others that are being looked at in the future.