Pacific Southwest, Region 9
Serving: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, Tribal Nations
Champions of Green Government
2004 Recipients
USPS Pacific Area - Energy Program Committee (EPC)
Tracy Arthur, Peter Gadd, Ray Levinson, Rey Pulido, Conrad Saltenberger, Joe Vanden Berg
U.S. Postal Service, Pacific Area Operations
Daly City, CA
In Fiscal Year 2002, the U.S. Postal Service Pacific Area EPC worked closely with their national energy program and procurement offices to develop a new “Shared Energy Savings” (SES) contracting vehicle, similar to an energy performance contract. The USPS Pacific Area has financed 24 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Projects worth more than $14 million through these contracts. The projects require no up front capital, and are paid off by energy cost savings in ten years or less. This SES is being considered as a template for use by other USPS regions around the country.
The EPC has arranged funding for a wide variety of energy efficiency upgrades, including: changing from HID lamps and T12 fluorescent lamps to more efficient T8 lamps with electronic ballasts at many facilities; replacing CFC chillers with high-efficiency non-CFC chillers; adding variable speed water pumps to HVAC systems for heating and cooling; changing constant volume air handlers to variable volume using carbon dioxide controls; insulating mechanical rooms; retrofitting compressed air systems; improving boiler efficiency; adding programmable thermostats; and replacing compact fluorescent lamp exit signs with LED exit signs.
The EPC also recommended, and recently received approval for a 403 kilowat photovoltaic (PV) solar generation project at the Sacramento Processing and Distribution Center. It will provide up to 20% of the power demand and 4% of the total power consumption for the center. It will be the largest civilian federal agency grid-connected PV solar project in America.
Implementation of these measures will reduce USPS Pacific Area electricity consumption by 13,092,430 kilowatt-hours annually. This will result in annual emission reductions of more than 4,900,000 pounds. of carbon dioxide and more than 6,600 pounds of nitrogen oxides. Since it began in Fiscal Year 2003, one-third of the projects are now completed, and all projects are scheduled for completion by September 2004.
General Services Administration (GSA), Los Angeles Construction Services Branch
Mark Levi, Roston Manoukian, Robert Martinez, Reggie McNulty, Mar Visda, Ed Wasielewski
Los Angeles, CA
GSA’s Pacific Rim Region completed installation and start-up of the largest photovoltaic system in the GSA inventory at the North Los Angeles Federal Building. By using local utility rebate programs, the payback of this project is 5.6 years, making this a very economical photovoltaic project. The solar modules use a thick layer of polystyrene foam underneath the tiles, providing significant insulation, reducing heating and air conditioning costs and extending the life of the roof.
Over the life of the photovoltaic system, the electricity will reduce emissions of Carbon Dioxide by 2,842 tons, nitrogen oxides by 5,064 lbs and sulfur dioxide by 1,544 lbs. These emission reductions are equivalent to planting over 800 acres of trees, or removing 568 cars from the roads of GSA's Pacific Rim Region.
Mark Levi
General Services Administration
Pacific Rim Region
San Francisco, CA
Since 1997, Mark Levi with GSA, Pacific Rim Region, has worked on dozens of cutting edge energy efficiency and renewable energy resource projects completing almost $25 million of energy conservation measures during that time. Mark has provided consistent creative regional leadership on energy efficiency, renewable energy use, and building operations and maintenance to reduce GSA regional utility bills by millions of dollars per year.
There are several individual projects that could be recognized, but EPA has identified two examples. First, installation of new central cooling and heating plant equipment at GSA facilities which have reduced emissions resulting in cleaner air for the Bay Area and California. This project is estimated to save over 1.4 million kilowatt-hours per year of electric energy and 9,400 therms per year of natural gas energy. Second, cooling coils were replaced at GSA facilities which resulted in the recycling of over 100 tons of mixed metals.
California National Park collaborative
Stephen E. Butterworth, National Park Service
Frank E. Brown, Bonneville Power Administration
Michael Huber, P.E., Bonneville Power Administration
The California National Park collaborative is a multi-year joint venture involving the National Park Service (NPS) Seattle, WA, Regional Office, individual park personnel from ten national parks throughout California, and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The total value to NPS of this collaborative to procure funding to implement projects has exceeded $1.85 million dollars, which has been invested into conservation and renewable projects. As a result of this effort, significant amounts of rebate incentives have been returned to NPS to fund future projects.
Some specific successes include: funds to identify and capture conservation and renewable energy opportunities; energy conservation; technical support for all types of energy conservation; renewable energy systems; photo voltaic (PV) systems; lighting efficiency controls and fixture retrofits; occupancy sensor controlled power strips; wind turbine; solar-thermal hot water system; electric utility improvements (metering and energy accounting systems, plus automated billing); and fuel cells.
There are almost $600,000 of new projects planned for construction in 2004, all paid for with rebates earned by projects from earlier years. These new projects will in turn earn additional rebates from the state, which will be cycled back into projects in 2005. Rough estimates on the savings from the projects completed to date are around 900,000 kilowatt-hours per year, or $110,000 per year in reduced electric bills to the individual Parks and the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.
Air Force Flight Test Center
Edwards Air Force Base, CA
Environmental Management prompted the development of an environmentally- friendly landscape demonstration area. Several goals associated with this project include demonstrating how efficient landscaping reduces maintenance costs, pollution, watering needs, and yard waste.
A total of 5,000 square feet of lawn has been removed to make room for appropriate desert flora. This reduction of lawn area alone will save approximately 227,000 gallons of potable water, eliminate 342 pounds of air pollutants through reduced mowing, and reduce fertilizer use by 10 pounds. Grass clippings were also reduced by 5,800 pounds annually. The drought tolerant plants, efficient drainage and irrigation systems, and Interpretive signs will be used to educate staff and visitors about water conservation techniques and the local desert ecosystem.
The techniques used in this design reduce the time and resources needed for management and maintenance of local landscapes. The estimated annual dollar savings is roughly $4,800, with an overall water use reduction of 227,000 gallons per year.
Pinnacles National Monument - Commingled Recycling Team
Paul Casarez, Darrell Chambers, George Frusetta, Robert Gutierrez, John Osborne, Peter Szydlowski, Jeff Weak
US Department of the Interior
National Park Service
The Commingled Recycling Team’s research, development, implementation, and management of a park-wide Commingled Recycling Program (CRP) has helped reduce the facilities impact on the environment. Pinnacles expanded the types of recyclables collected, increased the points of recovery, streamlined the recovery efforts, incorporated educational components, and increased the recyclables collected and diverted from landfills by 350% between 2000 and 2003.
Pinnacles used their existing refuse containers to collect commingled recyclables from visitors, and created and incorporated strategies to expand the CRP to the residents and offices, including additional collection areas. As a result of their efforts, 6105.0 pounds of recycling was diverted, an increase of 4360 pounds, or 350% over the previous year. Pinnacles estimates the amount that is diverted saves the park approximately $1920 per year.
Additional activities implemented by the Team include: educational materials developed for all visitors along with educational classroom tours for students visiting the park, a zero waste lunch program, and designed labels and logos to 'message' the CRP.
Mrs. Luda Fieguth
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Menlo Park, CA
Mrs. Fieguth worked to upgrade the two-mile Klystron Gallery Lighting Upgrade at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). New lighting fixtures were installed to reduce the electrical load and provide comparable light levels. The new lighting resulted in a total annual electrical energy saving of 4,456 megawatt-hours. Based on the latest projected electrical cost of $0.053/kilowatt-hours. it is estimated that the project will save SLAC $236,000 per year.
In addition to the energy saving, annual Operation and Maintenance cost savings are expected to be $30,000 based on the difference in operating hours (lamp life) between the existing lamps and the new ones. The estimated simple payback for the total project cost is 2.3 years. This is also expected to reduce global warming gases estimated at 2699 metric tons/year of carbon dioxide (based on federal energy management conversion data). The process also resulted in recycling 1995 incandescent and 360 fluorescent light fixtures as scrap metal, 828 pounds of lighting ballasts, and 702 fluorescent lamps, at 0.6 percent of the total project cost. As a result, waste management costs did not significantly impact the payback of the project.
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
Camp Pendleton, CA
In 2003, the Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Pendleton developed one of the largest applications of solar-powered lighting in the federal government, with more than 200 solar-powered traffic beacons and streetlights installed during the year. The solar-power traffic beacons and streetlights were installed to enhance driver safety and base security, help the environment, and reduce installation and operating costs.
Applications of the solar-powered lights include: safety lighting for parking lots, street lighting, 24-hour beacon flashers, and force protection. The solar-powered lights further demonstrate MCB Camp Pendleton’s commitment to using renewable energy sources, minimizing the generation of green-house gas emissions, and meeting the goals of Executive Orders 13123 and 13101.
Through the use of renewable power, the following emissions will be eliminated: 3,095 pounds of nitrogen oxides, 2,782 pounds of sulfur oxides, and 3,945,145 pounds of carbon dioxide. The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions alone provides the equivalent of removing 395 cars from the road, or 931,486 fewer miles being driven.
This program demonstrates the effectiveness of combining energy conservation efforts and safety/anti-terrorism issues. During Fiscal Year 2003, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton saved $66,183 in energy costs and $78,375 in maintenance costs.
Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Corona Division
Corona, CA
NSWC Corona has a longstanding program for recycling white ledger paper, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and toner cartridges. In October 2002, Corona Division began taking action to invigorate its recycling efforts on several fronts.
- The Corona Divisions expanded recycling program included white ledger only to white and colored paper to increase recycling and waste reduction;
- Worked with the local recycling company to provide a 40 yard roll-off bin free-of-charge to begin recycling of cardboard;
- Provided additional bins to the NSWC Corona building representatives to increase recycling of aluminum cans and plastic bottles;
- Modified the industrial shredder process, coordinating with the contractors and the building representatives, to ensure that film and paper is shredded separately so that the shredded paper can be recycled;
- Increased recycling awareness among the Command’s employees by providing information, tips and innovative ideas via the Base Intranet, recycling events, energy fairs, base-wide replacement of energy consuming refrigerators with Energy Star models, and displays showing recycled products available for home and work use.
| Year | Waste Weight (Tons) | Recycled Weight (Tons) | Recycled Diversion Ratio (% of waste not going to landfill) |
| 2002 | 320.0 | 12.2 | 3.7 |
| 2003 | 216.5 | 30.1 | 12.2 |
Rich Ostrander – Central California Area Office Garage Staff
Folsom Dam Garage
Central California Area Office
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Folsom, CA
2003 was the first full year of applied pollution prevention activities to the garage operations, which resulted in the reduction of hazardous wastes to near zero. Since the garage began its recycling program, 100% of the antifreeze used is recycled, eliminating approximately 100 gallons of waste per year. Re-refined oil is used in all vehicles and 100% of the used oil is recycled and reclaimed, eliminating approximately 400 gallons of waste per year. Twenty percent of all tires are recapped and put back into service.
The garage acquired two used electric (battery) powered buses for tour guide use in 2000. A new wash/steam rack was installed in 1999 resulted in 100% of the sludge from the wash/steam rack, being captured and sent to waste management for proper disposal, and the water is cleaned and recycled in the wash/steam rack’s closed loop system, saving thousands of gallons of water per year.
Average annual savings include: 45,000 to 67,500 gallons of water, and $342 for the cost of antifreeze and oil.
U.S. Postal Service – San Diego District
San Diego, CA
In 2003, the San Diego District site recycled 8,060 tons of solid waste, generating revenues of $296,430. The San Diego District has major programs in recycling and education outreach. Since the inception of this program, the San Diego District has recycled and diverted over 50,030 tons of materials and realized $3,738,570 in cost avoidance and earned $881,889 in revenue.
On February 13, 2004, the San Diego District letter carriers conducted the first city-wide collection of old eyeglasses for the Lions Club’s “Recycle for Sight” program. The project resulted in the collection of about 12,000 pairs of old eyeglasses.
U.S. Postal Service - Sacramento District
Sacramento, California
The total recycled paper volume in Fiscal Year 2003 for the Sacramento District was 3,000 tons, or 250 tons/month. Comparisons between calendar year 1999 and calendar year 2003 demonstrate the District’s continued commitment to keeping this material out of landfills. By recycling up to 250 tons of newsprint, magazines, and office pack per month, the Postal Service has been able to divert this from the landfill, which resulted in a cost avoidance of more than $250,000 in landfill fees.
The Sacramento District is also involved in many green activities, including more than $100,000 in cost avoidance from recycling cardboard, metals, pallets. The recycling of undeliverable mail produced $73,500 in calendar year 2001. While recycling revenue decreased in 2002 and 2003, the total cost avoidance increased and cost of work hours to prepare and backhaul mail decreased.
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