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Saving Energy Dollars in Prisons and Jails

NCJ Number
76516
Date Published
1980
Length
63 pages
Annotation
This booklet outlines steps that correctional administrators can take to determine their institution's energy-saving potential and details futuristic ways of providing and managing energy that new prisons and jails are already using.
Abstract
Noting that the Federal Government is the Nation's largest single energy user, at more than 2 percent of total U.S. energy consumption, the booklet outlines recent energy conservation legislation since 1973; describes the two energy conservation strategies of end-use restriction and total energy management; and lists the three subsystems whose interplay causes losses or gains of heat -- energized, nonenergized, and human. In addition, energy conservation projects initiated at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Butner, N.C., and at FCI El Reno, Okla., are detailed. The booklet also explains the seven basic steps that are generally followed in successful energy management programs for any building or building complex: organize the program, collect historical energy use and cost data, conduct a detailed energy audit, analyze the data to identify conservation opportunities, and perform economic analyses to establish priorities for conservation opportunities within budget limits. In addition, selected options should be implemented and energy use monitored. Several futuristic means of energy conservation described in the booklet include the development of solar collectors and solar hot water heaters at FCI Otisville, N.Y., FCI El Reno, Okla., and State institutions in Florida and California; the training of solar installers and technicians at the Rehabilitation Center at Norco, Calif., at FCI Memphis, Tenn., and at State institutions in Florida, Georgia, and Connecticut; the manufacture of gasohol to power State vehicles at the Menard Correctional Institution in Illinois; and the use of under-earth construction at a new State high-security facility in Oak Park Heights, Minn. Footnotes, illustrations, and tabular data are included. Two appendixes contain some pointers on lighting and definitions of various biomass energy (bioenergy) conversion processes. Also appended are a glossary, a reference list of 45 energy conservation books and documents, a resource list of energy conservation agencies by State, and a list of other, specialized, national or regional resources.