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Advanced meters to help AFGSC measure utilities

  • Published
  • Air Force Global Strike Command
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  All five Air Force Global Strike Command bases are part of an Air Force wide program to add high-tech meters to measure electricity, gas, steam and water. Over the coming year, engineers will take the effort a step further by adding advanced meter reading system hardware and software.

"The biggest benefit of this system is that it allows standardization across the Air Force," said Capt. Robert Marcucci, AFGSC Command Energy Manager. "The system is not only capable of measuring energy consumption, but also provides near real-time utility information, identifies anomalies, flags buildings that are performing out of normal range, and forecasts future consumption-- all while eliminating the need to send someone out to read a meter."

A $14.2 million contract was awarded Sept. 5 to Benchmark Construction Inc., teamed with Toltest, Inc., to provide a standardized AMRS at 80 installations. The Air Force plans to award the first 40 in fiscal year 2013 and the remaining 40 in fiscal year 2014. The AMRS will manage utility data and provide critical information required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

AFGSC has installed more than 220 meters at Barksdale, F.E. Warren, Malmstrom, Minot and Whiteman Air Force Bases in preparation for the installation of standardized AMRS software and hardware.

"This AMRS award is a major step in providing a powerful energy-saving capability to base energy managers," said Ken Walters, Performance, Measurement and Analysis Branch chief at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Tyndall AFB, Fla. "It also sets the stage for future integration with other systems."

AFCEC officials say the AMRS may save the Air Force up to $25 million a year in utility costs, and provide energy staffs the information needed to ensure buildings are operating as efficiently as possible.

The AMRS can be customized with base specific charts, graphs and gauges with real-time and historical meter data, and can provide reports, facility baselines and mock bills. The system can normalize for weather and collect stored data during a communication outage.

"For example, if a lightning strike causes a communication outage for an extended period of time, the AMRS has the ability to estimate the missing information, temporarily eliminating the data voids in your report," said Mike Ringenberg, AFCEC's meter program lead. "Once communication is restored, it can download stored data from the meter and overwrite the estimate if necessary. This feature significantly improves the quality of the data."