Harry Booze works to reduce energy consumption across the senate.

Kermit the Frog once sang, “It’s not easy being green. It seems you blend in with so many other ord’nary things. And people tend to pass you over ‘cause you’re not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water or stars in the sky.”

This is certainly true of the work of Tom Balderson, and his crew including Harry Booze and Keith Davis in the Senate Electrical Division. This team has quietly gone about its business replacing thousands of lighting ballasts, usually early in the morning well before most staff arrive in the buildings.

Their work is one example of where the “rubber-meets-the-road” in using proven technologies combined with AOC employee initiative; that is quietly reducing energy consumption while enhancing customer service—all without any action required beyond the work of a few skilled technicians.

“As one customer said to me, ‘If we are saving energy and don’t even know it, that’s great!’” recounts Tom, in describing the reception the new lighting system has received within the offices that have received them.

A few years ago Michael Shirven, Senate Assistant Superintendent, eyed a cost-effective and reliable solution with the ability to make a big impact. The AOC identified a lighting system that could replace existing lighting ballasts with new, significantly “smarter” ones. A lighting ballast is about the size of two boxes of pens laid end-to-end with wires on each end that control the starting and operating voltages of electrical gas discharge lights such as fluorescent bulbs.

In the Senate Office Buildings alone, there are 30,000 light fixtures, and replacing them with modern smart systems has the ability to dramatically reduce energy usage while increasing customer satisfaction. As of January 2010 the team had installed the new system in 30 office suites that accommodate Senators and their staff.

The new lighting control system being installed by the Electrical Division is comprised of digital electronic dimming ballasts and sensors that automatically determine the level of natural light in a space and reduce the artificial lighting accordingly. Ultimately, the system can generate energy savings of 50% to 70% and improve customer satisfaction by allowing for lighting “customization” that can tailor the light level to the customer’s workspace preference.

“It’s a very smart system,” said Tom. Unlike the “dumb” ballasts being removed and recycled for their steel, each ballast in the new system contains a small computer that is tied into the larger system via a central hub allowing Tom the ability to adjust every individual light across the Senate buildings from a single laptop.

While the system itself may be smart, it takes the creative thinking of employees such as Tom to install, adapt, program and manage the system. In order to learn the system, Tom attended training in simulated labs to learn how to utilize the sophisticated software.

During each installation, from his laptop, Tom configures the lighting system for the office, setting the levels for each work space and area within the office. From the moment of installation of the new ballast, the lighting levels are automatically set at 70%, instantly reducing energy consumption per ballast by 30% without any noticeable effect for the customer. The system also “harvests” the daylight and in some offices with significant sunlight it may save energy by as much as 90%.

Additionally, from his laptop Tom receives light bulb outage reports so his team can proactively replace them before a customer calls; he can “load-shed” (dim lights to reduce energy use) across the Senate during peak energy consumption, such as summer, helping reduce demand on the regional power-grid; and make adjustments at customer requests such as setting lighting levels differently for a particular workspace.

The work of Tom and his colleagues in replacing the ballasts has served as an early jump on work that will be conducted in the months ahead by the recently selected vendor for the Senate energy savings performance contract (ESPC).

An ESPC is a partnership between an energy services company (ESCO) and its customer formed for the purpose of financing and implementing cost-saving, energy-efficiency improvements. The ESCO pays the upfront cost of purchasing and installing new equipment, and the customer repays the ESCO over the life of the contract from the energy savings resulting from the project. ESPC’s have been in use by public and private customers for over twenty years and have been proven to be an effective method for improving the energy efficiency of existing facilities.

Beyond the Senate, ESPCs are being developed across the AOC including the House office buildings and Capitol. In addition to the lighting upgrades, this work will include actions such as upgrading heating and air conditioning controls that adjust automatically to the usage of the room, saving energy and creating more comfortable settings for customers; and installing water saving measures in restrooms.

The analysis estimated that implementing these measures could reduce energy consumption by as much as 20% to 30% in the Capitol, House and Senate office buildings.

For Tom, Keith, and Harry they enjoy the work but are not disappointed to turn the project over to the ESPC. They do not view their job in terms of just energy savings, for them the primary focus is on the customer and ensuring they have what they need.

“I love it,” says Harry of working at the AOC, who joined the agency a little over a year ago after decades in the construction trades. “My favorite jobs are the ones where I get to interact with the customers.”

At the end of the day, these employees are quietly revolutionizing the use of energy on Capitol Hill. But, perhaps the ultimate energy savings the team realizes is in their choice of commuting. They ride together everyday in the same carpool (reducing their carbon footprint dramatically) giving Harry and Keith a chance to catch-up on their personal energy savings. Tom does the driving.

Postscript: Following the completion of this article, the AOC was saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Keith Davis. His contributions will be missed. 

Winter 2009 issue