Saving energy, saves money Published May 20, 2019 By Artemiz Avci 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- The month of May is recognized as Incirlik local Energy Action Month to remind energy and water conservation to you. Each of you has an important part to play in conserving energy. Incirlik AB needs to meet the Department of Energy consumption reduction goals. Reduction of energy and water consumption throughout the Department of Defense was officially mandated by the U.S. Federal Law. The Presidential Executive Order 13693, “Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade” mandates that energy consumption must be reduced 25 percent by 2025 (baseline year 2015, 2.5 percent reduction per year) and water consumption must be reduced 36 percent by 2025 (baseline year 2007, 2 percent reduction per year). Meeting energy and water goals may not be easy, which means we need to keep close track of it and we need to come up with more projects and conservation practices to reduce our consumption. Energy conservation is important because we are running out of resources. The first thing to look at should be people-related conservation practices. It's simple things that help a lot. We want to make water and energy savings a habit for everybody every day. It's hard to change the culture, but we have to. We are losing the resources in the world and we need to be more aware of this and act accordingly. Simply turning off the water faucet when shaving or brushing teeth can save thousands of gallons of water a year. Other habits to consider include unplugging battery chargers when the batteries are full, using rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones and using natural light instead of electricity. We need to think about the future, and not just today. Saving energy now will help our children in years to come. It's your basic habits. It's really not something that you would see any sort of immediate benefit from, but the small habit changes of your lifestyle can make a big difference. There's a cause and effect that goes on there, whether you see it at first or not. We're just trying to make people more aware of the energy conservation. We're always looking at trying to find the next best way to save energy. We have to have energy conservation in mind with everything we do, that's the bottom line. It's up to us and we can take initiatives ourselves. May is the Incirlik local Energy Action Month, but our campaign should last all year. We also have the month of October as the national Energy Action Month. Do your part to conserve energy! How Can You Save Energy Every Day? Turn it down when you can. - Turn off office lights when you leave at night. - Use natural lighting or day lighting. Turn off lights near windows. - Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it, to directly illuminate work areas. - Unplug equipment that drains energy when not in use (i.e. cell phone chargers, fans, coffeemakers, desktop printers, radios, etc.). - Turn your thermostat down to 67 degrees when you go to bed. - Keep doors and windows closed when the heat is on. - Prevent cool air from seeping in through old weather stripping or caulking around doors and windows. - Turn off all outside lights during daylight hours. - Run full loads in dishwashers and clothes washers.