Lower energy use, costs emerge from study conducted by SPEA students at NSA Crane

The first project to be launched under the milestone NSA Crane Educational Partnership Agreement signed in October revealed energy savings that ranged from 4.5 percent to nearly 26 percent at three NSA Crane facilities earlier this fall.

Three teams of graduate students under the supervision of William Brown, IU’s director of sustainability, spent October and part of November examining energy usage patterns before and after the implementation of behavioral science tools designed to encourage energy conservation.

After three weeks with the behavioral tools in place, results included:

• A 4.5 percent reduction in energy use at a 68,000-square-foot, joint-use building for more than 200 Army and Navy personnel that was built in 2006;
• A 20.4 percent drop in energy used at a 31,233-square-foot administrative support facility built in 1944;
• A 25.8 percent reduction in energy use at the Navy Gateway Inn & Suites, a 28,300-square-foot facility built in 1999.

For more information about the study, read here.