Airport Cuts Energy Usage for One Hour

The Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA) took part in a regional energy conservation test program at the Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) today from 2 to 3 pm. The energy conservation project is called PJM Demand Response.
Airport Spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny says this is an effort to “lighten the load” on the electric grid in the Northeastern part of the country. She says lights, air conditioning, electric walkways, escalators and other devices will be switched off in some areas of the airport. Ultimately, they’d like to save about 2,000 kilowatts.
Jenny says this will not impact flights and will have minimal affect on passengers and employees. ACAA has implemented a customer service plan for the hour long power outage, such as having extra employees around to help people with disabilities. She says only one train will run to and from terminals, which may cause minor delays.
Jenny says, “It’s a project where if we do meet the amount of energy savings that we set as our goal, there is some financial incentive—we’ll get some type of reimbursement.”
Jenny says several companies are participating in the program in 13 states, with the goal of saving nearly 3,000 megawatts.