Kunsan celebrates Earth Day Published May 13, 2013 By Staff Sgt. Tong Duong 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- -- Wolf Pack members celebrated Earth Day on base, April 22, 2013, by taking efforts to conserve resources and costs savings to the Air Force. The Air Force's Earth Day theme of "Conserve Today - Secure Tomorrow," is a call to action to Air Force installations around the world by taking actions to enhance sustainability. "The Air Force is highlighting water resource management programs, including conservation, water quality and pollution prevention, wastewater and storm water management," said 1st Lt. Stegall, 8th Civil Engineering Squadron base energy manager. "The use of innovative water-saving technologies in design, construction, landscaping and facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization are being used as well." To get the message out, 8th CES members briefed First Term Airmen on the importance of saving energy, to include water conservation. This message was also relayed to all facility managers on base. "They are the eyes and ears for sustaining our facilities and helping with energy savings" Stegall said. "8th CES also sent squadron commanders energy saving slides to distribute to their troops for promoting energy savings." To future emphasis on energy conservation, Kunsan implemented a 'no heat-no cool' during the months of late April and early June. "It plays an enormous roll in saving energy on Kunsan as well. By shutting off the heat early and delaying the air conditioning, Kunsan save $931,000 a year," Stegall said. "Our heating, ventilations and air-conditioning systems are responsible for 75 percent of the buildings energy that is consumed. We burn fuel oil to heat our buildings, so we're also cutting down on the production of carbon dioxide that is released into the air." According to the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, the Air Force is continuing to collect personal posts on its "Blue Acts of Green" Facebook page, to capture individual environmental actions. The page was launched last year at www.facebook.com/blueactsofgreen. Airmen and their families are encouraged to demonstrate their support by committing to perform an act of "green" at home or work to benefit the environment. To assist installations in observing Earth Day, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center has produced an Earth Day 2013 toolkit which is available on the AFCEC website at http://www.afcec.af.mil/news/earthday2013/index.asp.