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Travis residents make the ‘Switch 4 Good’
Posted 12/3/2012 Updated 12/3/2012
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by Tyler Grimes
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
12/3/2012 - TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Some Travis residents now have the opportunity to participate in an energy use study that could reduce overall consumption.
Balfour Beatty Communities in association with WattzOn, a California-based energy efficiency company, will conduct a study of families in the Onziuka Flats North area as part of the Switch 4 Good program. Switch 4 Good is a program for service members who live on base to save money and reduce energy.
In addition to decreasing the base's energy consumption, the results of the study will help Balfour Beatty award three community grants totaling $900 to Travis on behalf of the participating families. The residents will then help decide the community projects that will receive the grants.
The residents who sign-up for the program will receive personalized energy consumption statements, email or text reminders of high usage and home coaching, according to Mark DuPree, Balfour Beatty Communities community manager. The coaching will consist of in-home visits by professional energy couches.
The 152 residents who are eligible to partake in the study have electric and gas SMART meters in their homes. The energy usage data is collected and analyzed during the course of the study, which ends in July 2013, DuPree said. The residents' data will be kept confidential with the information only being shared among the family members and the energy study team.
This is the second time Travis families have been a part of an energy study, DuPree said. In 2010, 24 families contributed to Residential Energy Savings pilot project.
"In the previous energy study at Travis and other energy programs, we have seen residents with up to 40 percent and 50 percent energy savings, with an average around 18 percent," he said.
As a result of the 2010 study, a $1,000 community grant was given to the Travis Unified School District.
With the Department of Defense's goal to reduce its energy usage by 3 percent annually, according to Dr. Dorothy Robyn, deputy Undersecretary of defense, in a March 2012 report, military energy consumption has become an important issue.
Programs such as Switch 4 Good also can help Airmen and their families save money in the future as well.
"Traditionally on-base residential housing has higher levels of energy use per capita than off-base housing and this program will show how families can conserve natural resources while being mindful of their consumption," DuPree said. "Knowing how to save energy at home will prepare on-base residents for living off-base when they are responsible for their energy use. Energy saving initiatives help conserve our natural resources and also leave the world a better place for future generations."
For more information about the Switch 4 Good program and to sign up for the energy study, contact the Balfour Beatty Community Center at 207-3376.
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