The Secretary of the Navy recently presented the Energy Conservation (ENCON) award winners for FY2002 in ceremonies conducted at the Navy Memorial in Washington, DC. USS Essex (LHD 2) was among these prestigious award winners. These Navy and Marine Corps activities were singled out for executing comprehensive conservation programs based on senior-level command involvement, well-staffed and trained energy teams, aggressive awareness campaigns, investigation and execution of innovative energy conservation measures, and consistent reduction in energy consumption. The award winners represent Navy activities, ships and Marine Corps bases. USS Essex won the top performance award in the large ship category.
USS Essex was on deployment when SECNAV presented the awards in Washington, so the Navy’s ENCON Team brought the award to the ship. While conducting Energy Conservation briefings and training to the 7th Fleet, the ENCON Team presented the award to the ship at the Sasebo Naval Base, Japan. Shipboard ENCON Program Manager, Hasan Pehlivan and team member, Mark Rebold made the presentations. They also conducted numerous workshops and seminars in both Sasebo and Yokasuka, Japan.
During FY 2003, the ENCON Program assisted both Commander, Pacific Fleet (COMPAC) and Commander, Atlantic Fleet (COMLANT) ships stretch its fuel resources. Using energy education, the Fleet was able to reallocate over 1,160,000 barrels of fuel to high OPTEMPO ships. In ship operating terms, this is equivalent of 22 “ship years” of steaming using energy conservation initiatives provided by NAVSEA’s ENCON Team.