Local energy campaign to target workspace vampires Published Oct. 16, 2009 By Wayne Crenshaw 78 ABW/PA ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- For the typical person working at Robins, conserving energy is sort of like voting. One person alone might not make much difference, but one person in concert with many others can bring about dramatic change. "What we've found is that each one of us can't do very much alone," said Art Howard, energy awareness program manager. "But if you think about how many thousands and thousands of cubicles and workspaces are at Robins, it can have a big impact." As a part of National Energy Awareness Month, the base is promoting a Cubicle/Workspace Energy Awareness Campaign. The objective is to make more people realize how they can help with energy conservation efforts by controlling "energy vampires" in their own workspace. Those include computer screens, which should be turned off at night. Computer speakers, task lighting, printers and any other electrical items in the workspace should also be turned off when not in use. "When you add all those uses up, the amount of electricity usage is substantial," Howard said. "What we are hoping with the Cubicle Awareness Campaign is that people, when they leave work, will turn all the non-essential things off." For most people, the only thing that should always be on is the computer, which has to be left on for maintenance purposes. Col. Debra Bean, vice commander of the 78th Air Base Wing, said Team Robins members should not underestimate the contributions they can make to mandatory conservation efforts by taking small steps in their workspace. She noted that in the first year of emphasizing workspace energy consumption, the base realized an energy savings of 7 percent over the projected costs that year. "It can make a huge difference," she said. "We know this works if we get 100 percent of the people on this base doing that 100 percent time. We know there is big money in play." Howard said that as a part of the cubicle campaign, the base energy office has put together a slide show that supervisors can use to encourage employees to conserve energy. Anyone interested in getting the slide show can contact Howard at 327-5523. He also encourages supervisors to use a check list to ensure items are being turned off when not in use.