Moody civilian receives Air Force energy award

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Spencer Gallien
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Air Force bases around the world strive to constantly come up with new, innovative ways to save money through their energy conservation and usage programs.

Moody is no exception. This year the base set a new benchmark as Robert Montgomery, 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron wing energy manager, won the 2007 Air Force Energy Conservationist of the Year award.

In the past year, Mr. Montgomery, who retired in 1994 as a major in the Air Force, completed several conservation initiatives, including the replacement of more than 14,000 light fixtures with energy-efficient bulbs and the implementation of generators in Moody's larger buildings to cut costs during low-demand hours.

Mr. Montgomery's changes allowed Moody to save approximately 40-percent of its 2007 energy costs, including $203,000 in natural gas and $450,000 in electricity.

"Since 2005, we have not met the Air Force energy conservation goals," said Mr. Montgomery. "We really made a concentrated effort in 2007 to remedy that. We've made leaps and bounds since 2005, and so far, in 2008 are meeting the Air Force criteria for a second straight year."

In order to ensure the base meets these criteria in the future, he said Moody will continue to look for ways to conserve resources and account for its energy usage.

"We are currently looking at installing metering devices around base by 2011 to account for all the wing's energy expenditures," he said. "The use of these devices will let us know exactly where we need to trim excess costs."

Although the Air Force recognized Mr. Montgomery as an individual, he said it took a team effort for the base to achieve these accomplishments.

Mike Gruber, 23rd CES mechanical engineer, and Harry Hughes, 23rd CES civil engineer, both had a hand in his successes, he said.

"It was an overall group effort," added Mr. Montgomery. "Without their help, I would not have been able to meet the goals set forth by the Air Force. I was the idea and implementation man, but they were instrumental to those ideas."

"They both gave insight into their fields of expertise," said Mr. Montgomery. "Their talents helped lend to such programs as the solar water heating for the indoor pool."

Although Mr. Hughes and Mr. Gruber both helped Mr. Montgomery, they agree that he was the one who programmed, planned and received the funding for the different contracts the base received.

Developing and implementing those ideas, however, makes Mr. Montgomery a true asset for the base, said Mr. Gruber.

"The award is well-deserved; he is a dedicated individual with great insight," he said. "He is constantly coming up with intelligent, innovative ways to save base energy. Not only is he saving valuable resources, but he manages to execute the wing's conservation goals while staying in budget and maintaining funds."