The following recommendations are a result of the Department of Energy's Assessment of Energy and Load Reduction Techniques (ALERT) at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA, performed in June 2001. Many, if not all, these recommendations are applicable at Interior facilities nationwide.

The strategies are grouped under the following elements.

1. Employee Awareness
   
2. Operation and Maintenance Policy and Procedures
   
3. Capital Improvements
   

Employee Awareness

1. Top-down leadership. The facility manager can create the expectation that energy efficiency and prudent use of electricity affects the park mission and would implement measures to reward energy savings and correct energy waste. An example might be to add effective control of personal energy use as a component of employee job descriptions and performance appraisals. Special notices such as Stage One, Stage Two and Stage Three utility system overload alerts, energy use reminders, and kudos for energy reduction would be most effective coming from the Superintendent's office.

2. Grass roots participation. Every employee that uses energy (which is essentially every employee), must actively participate in order to realize maximum energy savings. As late as the 1970's littering was very common, but peer pressure was very effective in changing peoples habits. There is no substitute for co-workers to point out that it's "not cool" to leave the conference room light on when everyone leaves.

3. Technical Guidance and Plans. Most employees would require some guidance regarding how energy-consuming appliances, lighting,, and local space conditioning equipment can be controlled. Recommendations for technical guidance are as follows:

   A. Training. It is recommended that each employee receive training on

   i. The importance of energy cost savings and existing policy directives. Staff should be informed of the cost of energy use, the environmental impact associated, and the cause and effects of energy supply interruptions.

   ii. How to operate local energy consuming equipment (lights, HVAC, enable EnergyStar computer features, shared resources such as printers and copiers). Provide mandatory and voluntary training opportunities on smart energy practices so that employees can practice energy efficiency during emergency periods and year-round. In addition to training, run public service announcements about energy efficiency on televisions in cafeterias and other public use areas; send periodic e-mail messages about turning off lights and computers and implementing other efficiency practices; post signs or billboards near light switches or communal printers; and consider holding annual energy fairs prior to seasonal emergency periods to provide additional information for employees about how to manage energy use in the work place and in their homes.

   B. Energy Action Plans. Each employee would develop a one-page plan regarding systems under their control. The plan would list measures to be taken on a daily basis, as well as special measures that would be taken under Stage One, Stage Two and Stage 3 utility system overload alerts. Investigate separating loads into: life, health, and safety driven; mission critical; and non-critical.

4. Feedback. A measurement of the efficacy of the employee awareness program is required to secure and maintain cost savings, as well as to reward successful efforts and correct problem areas. Currently, very few facilities have real-time feedback regarding energy consumption levels. It is recommended that facilities look at establishing a system to provide real- time feedback. While this would be ideal if available on an individual-building basis, at this time it is recommended that the existing utility meters be enabled with communication and analysis hardware and software to display energy use data and trends.

5. Accountability. In response to a Stage One, Stage Two or Stage Three alert, facility managers will generally send a global message to all facility staff to curtail energy use. When everyone is made responsible, nobody feels uniquely responsible. It is recommended that an organizational structure be established to deliver information to staff and to report on progress, as needed. For example, each building contact would deliver information to identify life safety critical, mission critical, and non-essential loads for a plan of action and would assist all building occupants in implementing the plan-of-action under utility system alerts.

Operation and Maintenance Policy and Procedures

Many Facility operation and maintenance staff have changed procedures to achieve energy efficiency. Measures that should be considered include the following:

1. Replacing failed lamps with more energy-efficient alternatives and installing occupancy sensors.with switch replacements or reconfigurations.

2. Installing T8 fluorescent lighting systems.

3. Replacing incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps. If necessary, seek out vendors that manufacture compact fluorescent lamps that can maintain the appearance of a historic lamp.

4. Turning off public hot water showers.

5. Turning off unnecessary exterior lighting.

Other steps which could be immediately taken by staff include:

1. Heating Systems. Encourage staff to dress appropriately for the weather forecast and to properly utilize building heating systems. Re-commission heating systems to ensure that heat is properly distributed and controlled. Discourage staff from opening windows to control temperature when heating system is on- rather empower them to reduce the thermostat set point.

2. Cooling Systems. In buildings with air conditioning, raise indoor temperatures to 78 degrees; shutting down non-essential space cooling up to one hour before the normal close of each workday. Allow casual attire, to make higher temperatures more acceptable. Ensure that ventilation grilles and fan coil units are not blocked by books, flowers, debris, or other obstructions. Check HVAC systems filters and replace if pressure drop across surface exceeds, or is approaching, recommended maximum. This will improve air conditioning system efficiency and improve comfort. Reset heating, air conditioning, and ventilation (HVAC) controls to minimize their operating hours and to repair or replace malfunctioning HVAC equipment such as economizers that bring in outside air to cool a building.

3. Lighting. Continue to replace incandescent lamps with high lumen compact fluorescent lamps in all common areas. Personal task lamps provided by staff or by the government should be compact fluorescent. Do not allow high wattage torchiere lamps. Turn off non-essential lighting. Lighting would be essential when it provides the IESNA recommended lighting level in areas where circulation is difficult, such as stairways or where pedestrians and vehicles might be in proximity. In areas with sufficient daylighting, turn off lights. Adjust blinds, if available, to reduce glare. Use task lighting and turn off general lighting, where it is feasible to maintain sufficient lighting levels for safety and productivity. Turn off display and decorative lighting. Turn off fluorescent lights when leaving an area for more than 1 minute. (During non-emergencies, 5 minutes is recommended, to keep from excessively reducing lamp life). Turn off incandescent lights when leaving areas for any period of time. Continue to install occupancy sensors to automate this lighting control.

4. Weatherization. Weatherstripping or measures to control air infiltration would reduce heating energy consumption and improve comfort. This is required if we expect people to abandon their personal electric resistance heaters. Weatherization could reduce infiltration from 0.5 to 0.25 Air Changes per Hour.

5. Vertical Transportation. Consider turning off any escalators ; and a portion of all elevators. Leave elevators on that are required for accessibility reasons.

6. Water Fountains. Turn off chilled water drinking fountains.

7. Personal Computers. Turn off printers when not in use. Turn off monitors when not in use. Ensure Energy Star(r) power down features are activated. If computers do not have Energy Star(r) features available, turn them off when leaving the office for more than 30 minutes.

8. Personal Appliances. Ensure personal appliances, such as coffee pots and radios are turned off when not in use. Encourage thermal insulated carafes rather than hot plates to keep coffee hot.

9. Copiers Encourage employees to not use copiers during peak demand period. Turn off selected copiers. Ensure power saver switch on copiers in enabled. Encourage staff to make copies in batches, so that the time a copiers is in high power mode is reduced

Capital Improvements

In general, capital improvement funds are very limited and the following recommendations would most likely rely on private sector financing.

1. Energy Management and Control System. Install energy management and control system for all facilities. While controls themselves do not automatically save energy, they provide information and the ability to control energy consuming systems which can result in very significant savings, depending on the strategy and diligence of the operator of the control system.

2. Lighting Retrofit. Replace all inefficient lighting systems with new T8 lamps and electronic ballasts. In many areas, this should be accompanied by an architectural redesign of the lighting systems. Replace incandescent lamps with compact fluorescents and replace exit signs with LED light sources. Install lighting controls (daylighting and occupancy) and bi- or tri-level switching of lighting circuits.

3. Cogeneration Plant. Climate and utility cost data indicate that a cogeneration plant may be cost effective due to use the value of the waste heat. The system could be central plant or small distributed units. The system would include a central plant with connection to the electric grid and new heat distribution piping as well as new terminal equipment in areas served (unless existing historic radiators can be used). The cogeneration plant considered here is a 1 MW plant located on the Presidio.

4. Electric Utility System Upgrade. The condition of the electrical distribution system is poor. Upgrade or replacement would reduce operating costs and improve efficiency of transformers.

5. Mechanical System Upgrade. Heating equipment in the basecase is assumed to have 70% efficiency. This could be upgraded to 85% by replacement or retrofit.

6. Building Insulation. Many of the older buildings are uninsulated or poorly insulated. This measure considered increasing walls to R10 and ceilings and floors to R5.