The White Falcon - 24.10.1980, Blaðsíða 6

Page 6 The White Falcon October 24, 1980
ENERGY:
by Ensign B.A. Reichert
Remember when you could fill your
car with gas for $5? We didn't wor-
ry about turning off the lights when
we left the room. Running the air
conditioner full blast with the win-
dows open was a standard practice.
We didn't worry about energy conser-
vation. Hell, it would last for-
ever. We used to be very foolish.
We couldn't have been more wrong.
October 27th through November 2nd
has been designated ENERGY AWARENESS
WEEK throughout the Navy. The pur-
pose of Energy Awareness Week is to
focus our attention on the serious
problems the world faces in the near
future as our supplies of petroleum
run dry. The United States and the
Armed Forces will be particularly
affected by this shortage. Unless
we change our attitudes and opera-
tions the United States will run out
of oil in the first ten years of the
21st Century. This is less than 30
years away.
The NATO Base is in a particular-
ly difficult position. All our pet-
troleum must be shipped from the
United States. With the severe
climate it is difficult to ask
people to turn their thermostat down.
There are still many things you can
do to conserve energy.
Conserving electricity
Probably the easiest way to con-
serve electricity is to turn the
lights off when you leave a room.
The TV lounge, the bathroom, the of-
fice, your room in the barracks or
in housing are all places where it
is common to find the lights on and
Check your tire pressure
We can’t afford to
waste it anymore
the room empty. Other tips to con-
serving electricity are using a
covered pot to boil water or not
opening the oven door to check food
while it is cooking. Electric space
heaters consume a great amount of
electricity and should be used only
when it is absolutely necessary.
Saving gasoline
There are, of course, two methods
to conserve gas. One way is to
drive fewer miles. This can be ac-
complished many ways. Take advan-
tage of the base buses. They run to
many work locations around the base.
Make sure that when you drive you
are not making unnecessary trips.
Try to schedule your driving so you
have a full vehicle. And, of course,
there is always walking. It's re-
freshing, good exercise and you're
not burning anyone's gas. The
second method to conserving gas is
to use good driving habits. Avoid
jack-rabbit starts and sudden ac-
celeration. Make sure the tires are
properly inflated and the engine
tuned according to manufacturers'
specifications. Conserving gasoline
also conserves the money in your
pocket.
Don’t be fuelish
This is the area where we must^^®
make the greatest effort to conserve
energy. It takes over seven million
gallons of fuel oil per year to heat
the base. This figure could be
dramatically reduced if we follow
the President's Emergency Building
Temperature Restrictions. To comply
with this regulation we must make
sure the temperature of work areas
does not exceed 65° and that we
secure the heat at night. This
regulation, of course, does not
apply to barracks or family housing,
however, a great amount of oil can
be saved by turning the heat down
at night.
By conserving energy now we can
assure a sound future, but this will
require a deliberate effort on
everyone's part to be energy con-
scious. If you have any questions
or suggestions regarding energy con-
servation, call the Energy Hotline
at 4228. Remember—your future de-
pends on what you do now.