JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Naval Nuclear Power Training Command on Joint Base Charleston-Weapons Station recently received a green energy upgrade which will produce nearly 65 percent of the energy needed for domestic water heating at its galley.
Jeff Jones, JB CHS-WS energy manger, said the driving force behind the upgrade is Executive Order 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management.
The order mandates a reduction in energy consumption at the base-level by three percent each year until 2015, and the new upgrade supports that goal by diverting the task of domestic water heating for the galley to advanced solar heating panels, he said.
"If you have 70 degree water, and we have to raise it up to 120 degrees, you can just imagine how much heat is required to accomplish that," said Mr. Jones.
Using solar power, the project will reduce the electrical and natural gas needed for traditional water heating for the galley by preheating the ground water.
The system was contracted for installation through Johnson Controls Inc., who also provides energy management solutions for the majority of facilities across the Weapons Station.
Through the Navy funded contract, Johnson Controls provided the galley with a solar heating system capable of producing up to 450 million British Thermal Units per year, depending on weather conditions.
In the average home, ground water is routed through a water heating unit which stores hot water for use when needed. The previous NNPTC water heating system worked much the same way, but on a much larger scale resulting in a much higher cost.
With the new solar solution, water will be diverted through the solar panel array installed in a symmetrical configuration on the roof of the NNPTC Central Energy Plant.
The solar heated domestic hot water will then be distributed from two, new solar 1000 gallon storage tanks located inside the Central Energy Plant and mixed with the existing gas-fired domestic water heating systems.
"If through solar panels we can raise the water temperature, we can decrease conventional energy use to get up to the final 120 degrees," Mr. Jones said. "So, anytime you don't have to use as much energy to get your water to the final temperature it is going to be an energy savings."