CBS Newsletter
Fall 1995
pg. 8

A-Team Report

We are pleased to introduce a new department to CBS News. In each issue, you will find a brief update on projects being conducted by our new Applications Team.

The Houston air traffic control tower

The A-Team has completed the first phase of work to help the Federal Aviation Administration become more energy-efficient (CBS News, Fall 1994). Phase one includes a detailed energy audit of an example of each type of facility in the FAA building stock, located in the Houston metropolitan region.

The team has identified significant potential energy savings from energy- efficiency measures, including HVAC, control, and lighting upgrades. The combined energy cost-reduction potential from these recommendations exceeds 20%. A-Team project members have proposed retrofit projects worth $1.3 million with an average payback period of seven years. It should be noted that these upgrades are limited to energy use by noncritical loads-- those not involved with the primary mission of the FAA (such as computer and radar systems). Below is a typical energy end-use pie chart for a Houston-area facility.

electricity balance pie chart

Electricity balance: Houston tower

Phase two of the work for the FAA has begun with an energy audit of the Seattle air route traffic control center. This phase will involve research and development teams at LBNL, whose members will build a baseline computer simulation model of the Center. This model, plus others we expect to do in the future, will allow priorities to be set on future energy audits that contractors will perform on FAA buildings during the next ten years. The A- Team also provided design assistance recently for a new air traffic control tower in Grand Junction, Colorado.

--Geoffrey Bell


Geoffrey Bell
The Applications Team
(510) 486-4626; (510) 486-4101 fax

This work is supported by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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