WASHINGTON: Navy ships achieved more than $79 million in fuel cost avoidance during the first and second quarters of fiscal year (FY) 2009.
“This is the highest cost avoidance achieved in two quarters since the i-ENCON program was implemented fleetwide in fiscal year 1999,” said Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) i-ENCON Program Manager Hasan Pehlivan. “The i-ENCON program realized more than $136 million in fuel cost avoidance in fiscal year 2008.”
The i-ENCON program is a major initiative of the Navy’s Energy Conservation (ENCON) Program, spearheaded by NAVSEA to reduce ships’ energy consumption. i-ENCON is a hands-on “Meet the Fleet” initiative. Program sponsors conduct routine meetings with ship operators to review specific fuel-saving procedures and recommend quarterly awards for ships with the most fuel-efficient operations.
Saving fuel saves money. These efforts increase fleet readiness by enabling Sailors at sea to train or deploy longer while spending the same amount of money on fuel.
One of the ways NAVSEA’s i-ENCON measures fuel and cost avoidance is through underburn, the reported fuel rate for the quarter that’s below the ship class’ average burn rate.
“The cumulative underburn was 14.83 percent of the total first and second quarter fuel consumption, which exceeded the ENCON goal of 10 percent by a wide margin,” said Pehlivan. “This 14.83 percent underburn translates to a cost avoidance of 682,000 barrels or $79 million.”
This accomplishment increases fleet readiness by saving enough fuel to support 14 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (at an average of 2,500 underway hours) per year.
This performance may be attributable to ships receiving $2 million in cash awards distributed in the fourth quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2008 by Commander, Naval Surface Forces according to Pehlivan.
Pehlivan indicated that i-ENCON rewards leading fuel conservers among underway surface ships with special recognition and cash incentives up to $67,000. In fiscal year 2008, 148 ships received incentive cash awards. Award money is routed to each commanding officer’s discretionary funds, which are often used to buy items like damage control gear or to augment the ship’s welfare and recreation programs.
“The incentives are very important to i-ENCON’s success,” Pehlivan added. “It’s a voluntary program that requires real commitment from ships’ commanding officers, chief engineers and main propulsion assistants. I receive calls and e-mails from ships every day wanting to know how they can participate and improve their fuel performance.”
