US Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District

Joint Base Lewis McChord

“We strive to be the best at what we do, and our efforts are paying off as the quality of our work and exceptional auditing expertise continues to be recognized not only locally, but nationally,” said John Avina, Director at Abraxas Energy Consulting.

March 6, 2013 — San Luis Obispo, CA – As sequester budget cuts take effect on federal services across the nation, Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) near Seattle, Washington took the first steps in a comprehensive initiative toward reducing energy costs.

Abraxas Energy Consulting began inspections on Monday, of energy systems and utility usage inside facilities across the large military installation, under a contract with the US Army Corps of Engineers. While these energy audits were not prompted by federal budget cuts, a program to reduce energy costs could not have come at a better time.

“We are in full force today, beginning our ASHRAE Level 1 audit phase on the grounds of JBLM.” said John Avina, President of Abraxas Energy Consulting, “We generally find ways for our customers to reduce their energy costs by up to 35%. For this particular base, that will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in utility savings every year for taxpayers.”

JBLM – one of 167 currently-active Army bases throughout the United States – is a training and mobilization center, and the only Army power-projection base west of the Rocky Mountains. The installation aims to achieve a 30% reduction in energy consumption by 2015 (compared to 2003 levels).

Abraxas Energy Consulting will devote 17 engineers to inspect approximately 115 buildings across JBLM, including lodging centers, chapels, medical and dental healthcare clinics, vehicle maintenance shops and various recreational facilities; including an auditorium, theatre, gymnasium, and bowling center, and a Base Exchange.

To document their assessment, Abraxas engineers will produce a detailed plan of action for implementing a series of energy-saving projects. Each recommended conservation measure will yield sufficient energy savings to pay for itself within 10 years or less.

The energy audit of JBLM includes:

• ASHRAE Level 1 and 2 energy audits
• a comprehensive identification of possible energy conservation measures
• a full assessment of systems which consume electric, gas, oil, and water
• a full review of the overall building envelope.

Additionally, Abraxas Energy Consulting will analyze the economics and affordability for each conservation opportunities, report their findings and recommendations, and issue a scope of work for the installation of the approved conservation measures.

In the past seven years, Abraxas has provided energy audits and retro-commissioning services for over 50,000,000 square feet of building stock and has identified over $18,000,000 in energy and water savings.

Metrix 4.5.2 has been officially released. Improvements include the reporting month in the bill register, the end-use allocation report, and the ability to save page setup settings.

Abraxas is conducting an Introductory Metrix Training in Denver, CO.

Abraxas is hosting a Metrix 4 Introductory Training Session in Denver, CO. More information can be found on our Training page.

Abraxas is hosting a Metrix 4 Introductory Training Session in San Luis Obispo, CA. More information can be found on our Training page.

Abraxas Energy Consulting exhibited at World Energy Engineering Congress at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. John Avina, owner of Abraxas, chaired the track entitled, Energy Management: The good, the bad and the ugly.

John Avina presented his paper Eight Ways in Which a Poor Quality Energy Audit Can Prove Costly to the Building Owner, at the World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEEC) in Atlanta.

Abraxas was announced a sub-contractor for ERG to perform EISA energy audits of 3,300,000 square feet at 4 FBI facilities including the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington DC.

Abraxas conducted an Introductory Metrix Training in Atlanta.

Exhibited at 2nd annual GreenGov Symposium in Washington, DC

John Avina scheduled to speak at Gov Energy in St Louis on the topic of Audit or Existing Building Commissioning: Which is best for your building?