Current Issue

Fueling energy awareness

Just weeks into her new job as Y‑12's energy manager, Rosanne Smith submitted 26 proposals for energy upgrades to NNSA. “I want to bring energy to the level of safety awareness,” she said determinedly. That goal and others are designed to help the site meet increasingly exacting DOE standards.

To emphasize the challenges, Smith cites some mind-numbing data. Electricity powers most Y‑12 operations and functions, particularly work lighting. This year Y‑12's electric bill will run $14 million. The site will shell out another $3,377,000 for coal to generate steam, $1,140,000 for potable water and $353,000 for automotive fuel. Those sums translate into roughly 288,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide that Y‑12 will release into the earth's atmosphere.

To achieve U.S. energy and water goals, by 2015 the site must use 30% less energy and 30% less petroleum compared with 2003 levels, and its potable-water use must be 16% less than it was in 2007. Smith evaluates how Y‑12 can best use its resources to heat facilities; save energy, labor, water and money; and create renewable energy projects.

A 26-year employee, Smith worked as a materials engineer before taking the new position, resulting from a DOE order requiring each federal facility to have a dedicated energy manager. In addition to translating federal requirements into a plant energy policy, she aims to build plant-wide awareness of energy issues, to encourage feedback— “We need some novel ideas” —and to enhance communication.

Johnson Controls, Inc., a federally assigned Energy Savings Performance Company working with Y‑12, determined 11 potential energy conservation measures in accordance with directives from NNSA and the Y‑12 Site Office. Four to be implemented this year will cost $22.5 million and provide a guaranteed annual cost savings of $2.01 million. The measures will annually reduce the site's energy consumption by 110,033 MBtu and water use by 11 million gallons.

One of Smith's goals is to transform Building 9201-3 (Alpha 3) into a model of efficiency. It has 17 air-conditioning units, many of which are “old and decrepit” energy sinks, she said. The units routinely need repairs. Cooling water runs through them only once before it becomes wastewater.

Alpha 3 Building Manager John May and utilities management are working with Smith to evaluate the potential cost benefits of a heat pump and the replacement of incandescent lighting with energy-efficient bulbs. She is considering repairing fans and replacing magnetic ballasts with their better electronic counterparts. One of May's upgrades: Heaters installed in Alpha 3 bathrooms heat water only as needed. Across Y‑12, managers are energy conscious when replacing outdated fixtures.

The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), in the design phase, follows guidelines for “high-performance and sustainable buildings” when possible, she said. A study determined that an electric heat pump was best, so UPF will not pull steam from the steam plant. Energy Star appliances, designed to be more energy efficient, and natural light also are in the plans.

On vacations outside the country Smith has observed some imaginative energy-conservation efforts. She is also learning about American initiatives. Some U.S. businesses, for instance, are forming energy-conservation partnerships with utility companies and others. The city of Gainesville, Fla., purchases energy derived from privately owned solar panels.

Y‑12 must continue to be creative, too, she noted. One atypical Y‑12 project is the leasing of 40 acres to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to grow switchgrass for the laboratory's biofuels program.

“What if the hot water in Y‑12's change houses was thermal/solar?” Smith ventured. She hopes everyone at Y‑12 will re-energize their thinking and send some great ideas her way.

Table of contents