Ft. Knox Army BaseFt. Knox, Kentucky

Army Chooses Utility Energy ServicesContracts To Achieve Lifetime Efficiency,Reliability

Until recently at Ft. Knox, thecontracting practice with energyequipment was to install equipmentand leave the Army to deal with theresults. Now the Army is consideringlife-cycle costs in the purchasedecision. This was an importantchange in purchasing practices at the U.S. Army’s sprawling base at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. The changedpractice is in part a result of the 1992Energy Policy Act, which mandated a 35% reduction in the FederalGovernment’s energy consumption.

Ft. Knox is located 35 milessouthwest of Louisville, Kentucky,and is the home of the Army’s Armor Center and School. The baseidentifies itself as “The Home ofArmor.” Ft. Knox is also the home ofthe Army Recruiting Command andthe Second Region (ROTC) ArmyCadet Command. With roots reachingback to the World War One era, thebase provides a wide range oftraining and force developmentservices to the Army and NationalGuard, particularly in training theArmy’s Armor force.

The base encompasses an area of 170square miles and has a typicalpopulation of approximately 27,000,and includes a school system with3,100 students. It is, in effect, a smallcity with 1,100 government buildingsand over 3,000 family housing units.A key unit at the base is theDirectorate of Base OperationsSupport (DBOS), which is responsiblefor the operation of the entire baseinfrastructure, including roads,electric and steam supply, and Armybuildings on the base.

Trane has developed amethod of manifolding theheat exchange wells in avertical “tree” configurationin a mechanical closet of thebuilding being served, usingminimal floor space andavoiding the need to buildan expensive undergroundvault adjacent to thebuilding. This solutionreduces project cost andshortens project payback forthe owner, the U.S. Army.

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The Army’s presence at Ft. Knox datesback to the World War One era, with arange of buildings of all ages. Inrecent years, DBOS has beenconcerned about the efficiency ofolder energy-consuming systems andtheir ability to meet current needs.Energy efficiency has been a highpriority on the base since the 1970s,but early energy-efficiency programswere only marginally successful.According to some who havefollowed developments here, Armypolicy was to influence the energyuse patterns of individuals — turningoff lights, turning down thermostatsin the winter, using less showerwater, and similar steps.

More recently, DBOS has taken the position that improvements inbuilding shells and in comfort-systemefficiency would yield better results.Historically, the Army boughtequipment on a low-bid basis, and itwould be installed and turned over toDBOS to maintain and operate. Insome situations, this practice led tolong-term results that were

unsatisfactory from the perspectiveof poor comfort, operating economy,and reliability.

With the passage of the 1992 EnergyPolicy Act, Federal facilities weremandated to reduce energy use 35percent by 2010. The Act did notprovide funding for specificimprovements, but it did open doorsto using tools like performancecontracting to maximize the efficiencyof energy systems through theirentire life cycle. This has resulted insignificant improvements inoperating economy, and better long-term equipment selection andinstallation.

The DBOS team implemented avariety of improvements in thepractice of selecting equipment andusing contractors to install and evenoperate HVAC facilities. The teamidentified a large number ofopportunities for facilityimprovements, that would yieldenergy savings and improve theoverall environment.

The Army felt it needed to get to theroot of the problem, which wasinefficient buildings and equipment.The Energy Policy Act gave it some of the tools it needed. DBOS had toinvent the rest. One of the significantparadigm shifts was the decision tofix buildings, not to continue to try tochange people. Major energy useswere the primary target. If the Armywas to make the required reductionsin energy use, it needed todramatically improve the buildingconditions and upgrade the systemsthat served them. This meantreducing building heat loss and usingmore-efficient systems for lighting,heating, and cooling.

In the 1990s, DBOS evaluatedopportunities for performancecontracting for energy improvementsand, in 1995, entered into a UtilityEnergy Services Contract (UESC) withNolin Rural Electric Cooperative

“We went to Trane to seek out the best overallsolutions for projects on the base”

Corporation (RECC) of nearbyElizabethtown, Kentucky, one of the base’s four electric suppliers. The contract now encompasses $27 million in project investment,with annual savings now totaling $3.5 million due to reductions of 13.8 million kWh of electricity and 280 million cubic feet of natural gas.Nolin RECC provides financing forenergy improvement projects and isrepaid over a ten-year period as apart of the base’s electric bill.

The electric cooperative has beenvery proactive in helping solveenergy problems. They approachedthe Army with a mission of helping it improve its system and resolvelong-standing energy problems. A wide variety of end-useimprovements have been undertakenat Ft. Knox, including lightingretrofits, replacement windows, andinstallation of high-efficiency motors.Vince Heuser, vice president-operations at Nolin RECC, points outthat the partnership between thecooperative and the Army is one of“trust, understanding, friendship,respect, and determination to get thejob done.”

Nolin RECC has sub contracted muchof the energy-improvement work toTrane. “We went to Trane to seek outthe best overall solutions for projectson the base,” say Heuser. “They spentcountless hours developing solutionsto problems that had goneunresolved for decades.” Under anoperating agreement, Trane supplies

comfort -system equipment andsoftware, operates many of thesystems, and performs maintenanceon equipment to keep it operating atpeak efficiency and reliability.

Heuser notes that technical expertiseis one of the reasons Trane wasselected. “We rely on Trane’s vastknowledge and resources to seek outsolutions to many complex efficiencyproblems. They offer turnkeysolutions. You know the job will becompleted on time with minimalproblems and will perform as well asexpected, or better.”

A major category of improvementhas been the installation of hundredsof geothermal heat pumps withvertical heat-exchange wells toreplace older, far less-efficientheating and cooling systems. Thesystems, which are designed,installed, and maintained by Trane,are Trane model GEVA (vertical) andGEHA (horizontal) units, in sizesranging from two to five tons. Theunits use circulating water frombored vertical heat-exchange wells asa heat-exchange medium, and arelocated near the building’s exteriorperimeter.

Another major energy-conservationproject has been the replacement ofolder boilers and chiller-plantequipment serving the Ireland ArmyHospital on the base. The 600-bedhospital had previously been servedwith older absorption chillers. Theproject involved construction of anew mechanical plant building to

house the new packaged boilers,chillers, pumps, and controls. Thenew facility now includes three TraneCenTraVac™ Model CVHF centrifugalchillers rated at 800 tons each. Thechiller operates on a decoupled-looparrangement, and the system alsohas a plate-and-frame heat exchangerto allow free cooling in the coolermonths.

The condenser water for the chillersis supplied by a three-bay coolingtower adjacent to the building. Bothchilled-water and condenser-watersystems use variable-speed pumpsfor maximum energy efficiency andto precisely meet load conditions. Thechillers operate with cooling-watertemperatures down to 42°F (6°C). Thenew physical plant building alsohouses four high-efficiency boilersfired with natural gas, with backupfiring on fuel oil. These provideheating, laundry, and kitchen steamto the hospital, as well as to thenearby Gammon Recreation facility.The new mechanical plant wasdesigned, constructed, andmaintained by Trane.

The contracted maintenance andoperation of energy facilities meetsthe Army’s need for skilled specialiststo operate advanced systems. One ofthe complications has been thedifficulty for the Army staff tomaintain skill levels of the staff tooperate the wide variety of systemsat Ft. Knox. For this reason,contracted operation andmaintenance makes sense. Becauseof evolving technologies, the Armyrecognized its need to find specialistswith advanced HVAC technologyskills. Trane’s ability to trouble-shootin this area has been valuable.

The new physical plant buildingserving the hospital and otherfacilities has allowed a reduction inannual energy costs of over $1million, and annual energy savings of131,756 MMBtu. Project payback is

The Ireland Army Hospital now receives chilledwater from three 800-ton Trane CenTraVaccentrifugal electric chillers.

less than five years, and plant reliability is also substantially increased. Thisproject alone contributes 25 percentto the energy usage reductions to date.

Participants emphasize theimportance of the contractingapproach for projects of this type. Theparallel has been drawn that this baseis like a city that cannot float a bond.Federal appropriations for a projectlike this are limited and becomeavailable very slowly. Now there is anopportunity to improve Army facilitiesand reduce operating costs withoutbonding or federal capital funding.Other military bases are using thisapproach to varying degrees, butmany are watching what ishappening at Ft. Knox with greatinterest. This approach may alsomake sense for many other militarybases.

The entire Ireland Army Hospital plant is controlled by a Trane Tracer Summit™

system.The primary control point is in the new physical plant building, but there are remote monitoring points in the hospital and at remote locations off base.

CASE-SLX083-EN

September 2003

New

Inland

The work in energy systemimprovement is far from done at Ft. Knox. There are eight to ten otherbuildings that have been identified as opportunities for majorimprovements that will save energyand improve reliability and comfort.Over the next ten years, numerousbuildings that date to the 1950s willbe extensively renovated or replaced.

There is enthusiasm for the idea ofcontinuous commissioning withbuildings. Using this process,building energy systems arecontinuously monitored and resultsare studied. Where appropriate,building comfort systems evolve andimproved technology is installedwhen demonstrated to be cost

effective. Building users are involved in evaluating comfort-system performance and user needs.Army personnel are constantlylooking at the facilities and theirenergy-system components andfinding ways to make them ever moreefficient and reliable.

Looking ahead, participants seecontinuing success at Ft. Knox if three conditions are met. The Armyneeds to adhere to appropriateenergy-design standards; it needs toinsist that after a problem is solved,the system needs to be continuouslymonitored and evaluated; and thereis a need to continue to move downthe road of operating comfortsystems with full, base-wideoccupancy management. Much workremains, but we hope that eventuallyevery facility will have a moderncomfort system that is centrallycontrolled.

Vince Heuser notes, “We know that in today’s competitive environment,customers need the latestinformation and technology to helpthem remain competitive. We will doeverything we can to help themachieve this.” In the case of Ft. Knox,the challenge is not from a businesscompetitor, but from a demandingfederal requirement for improvedplant efficiency. Nolin RECC and Traneare helping to meet this challenge.