Kunsan: Saving energy one light at a time

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jessica Haas
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Residents of dormitory 535 are getting an upgrade - in energy savings that is. When the Wolf Pack set out to decrease its carbon footprint, civil engineers looked at the buildings using the most energy, which ultimately led them to building 535.

In January, it was concluded that this dormitory was one of the highest in energy usage, notably so because of the large population residing there.

Because this dormitory is using the most energy, Kunsan civil engineers set out to remedy it by installing a 'Keycard Energy Saving System'.

"In four and a half years, the system is estimated to save the Air Force a net cost of $539,444," said Staff Sgt. Lindy Leggett, 8th Civil Engineer Squadron 535 dormitory leader.

The system, which is currently being installed on the first and second floors, requires a room keycard be inserted into the keycard holder to use the lights in the room.

"Whenever a resident leaves their room for an extended period of time, they have to take their room key with them," said Leggett. "So in theory, whenever a resident is gone for the entire day or night, their lights and fan will not be in use because the energy supply is cut off."

Software is also being installed that makes it necessary to use the room key. If this software wasn't installed, residents could use any card to keep the energy on, which would defeat the purpose of the entire system.

"Part of the software will also include heating and air going down to 30 percent while the resident is not present," said Leggett. "Also, there will be a computer system in my office that tells me when a card has not been removed from the keycard slot for a long period of time. If that happens, I would go check the room and take proper actions depending on the situation."

As of right now, building 535 is the only building aside from lodging that will or is currently using this system, as it is the only building currently built to have this system installed.

"They are going to install the system in this dorm first, and if effective, take the necessary steps to start installing in other buildings," said Leggett.

Leggett said the other buildings were not built for this system to be easily installed like building 535 was.

"To install this new system in a majority of the other buildings on base, they would have to go up into the heating and cooling system, which is a lot more difficult than what they are doing now in building 535," said Leggett.

While getting this new system installed elsewhere in the future is unknown at the moment, one thing is certain - Kunsan is doing what is possible to make changes now and decrease its energy usage for tomorrow's Wolf Pack.