Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia (EURAFSWA) announced Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella as the winner of the 2015 Energy Biggest Loser (EBL) Competition Aug. 4.

The competition, which began July 1, compared the energy use of the Region's installations during the month of July to their historical usage of the same time period in previous years. The winning installations were chosen based on the greatest percent reduction in electrical consumption from the previous year.

Having reduced their overall energy consumption by 11.6%, NAS Sigonella had the greatest reduction and will receive the first place prize of $70,000 to use toward base improvements. Navy Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain earned second place, having reduced usage by 8.3%, and NSA Souda Bay earned third place after reducing usage by 7.5%. Second and third place "losers" will receive $50,000 and $30,000 respectively.

Commander EURAFSWA, Rear Adm. John Scorby, made the official announcement, offering his congratulations to NAS Sigonella and all other participating installations.

"Congratulations to NAS Sigonella for their excellent resolve to reduce energy consumption during this year's Energy Biggest Loser competition," Scorby said. "To all of you, thanks for helping the Region reach an overall energy reduction of 5.6%, exceeding our goal of a 5% reduction. Bravo Zulu to everyone for all of the effort you and your teams put into this event. We raised awareness through a variety of media outlets including some extremely creative videos and posters. With your leadership, energy is at the forefront of the communities' minds."

This is the second year that Region EURAFSWA has held the "Energy Biggest Loser" competition among its installations. In addition to the main competition, a poster and video contest were also held in an effort to create awareness, provide education, and promote individual actions personnel can take to help bring down the costs of energy use ashore. Currently, approximately 30 percent of installation expenditures goes toward energy.

Antonio Piluso, NAS Sigonella installation energy manager, agreed with Scorby, adding energy saving ideas and opportunities are usually limited to the building energy monitors (BEMs) only.

"The Energy Biggest Loser competition is important because it makes the energy savings a base-wide challenge; it broadens the audience," he said. "It challenges everybody to try all the energy savings opportunity ideas that are usually in the pending list."

Daniel Lougen, Naval Facilities (NAVFAC) EURAFSWA assistant regional engineer and regional energy manager, said that increase in awareness has extended beyond EURAFSWA to capture the attention of other regions in the Navy, and that in turn will affect the overall mission of the Navy.

"Energy is critical to the Navy mission," Lougen explained. "The ability to keep ships and aircraft on station and fighting ready is directly tied to how much energy is utilized. Ashore, every kilowatt hour that is saved makes us more resilient and increases the support to the warfighter."

The Energy Biggest Loser competition was inspired by the Navy's ongoing energy conservation initiative started in 2009 by Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus. The program, known as the Great Green Fleet, aims to reduce the Department of the Navy's consumption of energy, decrease its reliance on foreign sources of oil, and significantly increase its use of alternative energy. Energy bills are the single largest cost for Navy installations, reflecting about 28 percent of Navy's shore budget. Reducing energy costs will help us reach the SECNAV's energy goals.

The EBL competition is a tool to help the Navy increase energy security. The Region is open to any ideas that may help improve the event or other ways to increase energy conservation. Please provide any feedback you may have to Daniel.lougen@eu.navy.mil.

For more news from Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, visit www.navy.mil/.