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Pope energy initiative saves Air Force $150,000

  • Published
  • By Emily Smith
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Pope's own 43rd Civil Engineer Squadron was recently recognized Air Force-wide for a proposal of a wireless ramp lighting initiative. Anton Klein, former 43rd CES electrical engineer, developed the idea for the system, submitted the proposal as an Idea in the Air Force Idea program and was consequently awarded $10,000. 

Before Mr. Klein submitted his proposal, Pope spent $330,000 a year on ramp lighting - $230,000 on electricity and $100,000 on maintenance like replacing bulbs and ballasts. 

The action of turning off ramp lights when planes were not present on the runway was tedious and time consuming, having to manually switch off every one of the 41 lamp poles on the flightline individually. Because of this long process, lamps were instead left running continuously. 

With Mr. Klein's new plan, wirelessly controlled relays were installed at each of the lamp poles. The light poles can now be switched on and off all at once through a centrally located control panel. 

The beauty of the new system is the flexibility. The installation of a radio frequency switch at each of the lamp poles allows for each pole to be turned on or off individually, or in groups, depending on the mission. 

Gone are the days of wasting money to light large areas of empty tarmac, and so needlessly spending thousands of dollars. 

The plan, proposed in 2007, was implemented and took full effect after a 12-week installation process. 

With this new system comes a 51 percent reduction in annual ramp lighting energy consumption and a 46 percent reduction in maintenance costs. The entire system only cost $102,000 to install. The cost of installation was made up in savings in less than a year. 

Where past annual expenditures were upwards of $330,000, Pope now spends $157,000 a year on ramp lighting. The knowledge of the amount of savings comes at a great time because October is Energy Awareness Month. 

Because this new system has been so successful on Pope, the ramp lighting initiative has been posted Air Force-wide for consideration by all bases. 

The amount of energy and money that could be saved if every Air Force base transitions to wireless control systems would be massive. 

The initiative can be viewed online at  https://www7.my.af.mil/gcss-afbvpcp/USAF/ep/globalTab.do?channelPageId=-1075. 

Mr. Klein's plan, along with work from his 43rd CES counterparts, is just another example of Pope's finest at work every day.