2008/04/11 00:00:00
By Christina Wood
Celebrities are buying clothes made from bamboo. Hybrid cars are cruising Main Street. Corporations are planting grass on the roof and bragging about their eco-friendly policies. From corner offices on Wall Street to the assembly lines in Detroit, green is the only way to go these days.
For the U.S. military, however, going green is nothing new. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay has been successfully harnessing wind power for years. Nellis AFB in Nevada is home to the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the country. In 2006 the Qualified Recycling Program (QRP) at Fort Hood, Texas, processed more than 7,516 tons of recyclable material, generating more than $1.5 million in revenue and avoiding approximately $217,000 in disposal costs. This past year, the facility kept 8,900 tons of material out of the landfill.
The popularity of today’s eco-friendly consumer trends has led marketing mavens on Madison Avenue to proclaim green as the new black. Addison Davis IV, ?deputy assistant secretary of the Army (Environment, Safety and Occupational Health), has a different perspective. “Green is the new red, white, and blue,” he says, quoting Thomas L. Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist at The New York Times.
“I think one of the drawbacks of the green movement is the perception that it’s all about the environment,” Davis says. Long before Al Gore got into the movie business, even before the first Toyota Prius hit the road, the military recognized the importance of developing renewable energy sources, reducing waste, and conserving valuable resources.
“[DoD] is the largest single consumer of energy in the United States,” says Al Shaffer, DoD’s director of Defense Research and Engineering. “When we conserve energy, we lower our operating costs and we lessen our dependence on outside sources for this important resource.” Experts agree America’s continuing dependence on fossil fuels has serious economic and geopolitical implications in addition to the obvious environmental ramifications.
“It’s pretty powerful when you think about it in terms of the commitment from a patriotic standpoint,” Davis says.
Building for the future
Walter Nielsen is doing his part as a member of the Pentagon Renovation & Construction Office, where building green is the goal. “We have at least four buildings that have been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council as green,” the integrated product team leader for the Sustainability and Environment Team says. “[The Pentagon Library & Conference Center (PLC2)] will be the next one.”
The conversion of the former Pentagon Officer Athletic Center to the PLC2 is the latest effort in a decade-long campaign to “green the Pentagon” and create a culture of sustainability. More than half of the building materials used in the project originated within a 500-mile radius of the Pentagon Reservation, reducing the amount of fuel and energy needed to transport the supplies. Adhesives, sealants, paints, and carpeting were selected carefully to ensure low concentrations of indoor air contaminants. High-efficiency plumbing fixtures will reduce water usage. Thirteen percent of the building materials contain recycled content, the structural steel contains 95 percent recycled content, and the toilet partitions contain more than 30 percent.
“Green buildings will do a number of things for us,” Davis says. “First and foremost, they’ll be more energy efficient, they will require less maintenance, and they’re going to be constructed with more sustainable materials that will stand the test of time, so the operating costs will go down.”
As Nielson points out, the issue of sustainability is key. “In the Pentagon Renovation Office where I work, we’re looking at design and construction, but if the guys who give us the money for the projects aren’t considering it, then we’re kind of handicapped,” he says. “Downstream, if the people who maintain the facility are using Clorox or high-VOC [volatile organic compound] cleaning agents, then it undermines the green facility.”
What we’re made of
Jaycee W. Turnquist, the recycle operations manager at Fort Hood, Texas, knows a thing or two about sustainability. Fort Hood’s recycling program generally is acknowledged as the largest and most efficient in the Army. “We have a massive facility here,” Turnquist says. “We do 180 to 220 tons of paper a month, and then on top of that we do about 350 tons of cardboard each month.”
As Turnquist is quick to point out, however, “It ain’t going to do me a bit of good to gather up a whole bunch of paper if nobody’s going to buy recycled paper.”
He works enthusiastically with community leaders on both sides of the fence to encourage the use of recycled products. “We have to have a good marketing campaign,” Turnquist says. “We have to be able to show them where the money goes and what they can do [to help]. On top of that, we have to make it easy. You can’t make it hard; you can’t make it complicated. Recycling all over the country has to be simple.”
Davis says, “When you look at the economies of scale we can derive from partnering with folks in the local community — whether it is putting in an E85 [alternative fuel] station or coming up with a way in which to develop a market for recyclable products — I think that’s huge.”
In addition to paper products, Fort Hood’s recycling operation processes an impressive array of products, including toner cartridges, CDs, plastic range targets, scrap metal, copper wire, radiators, car batteries, and wooden pallets.
“All of that product was going to the landfill; I feel good about keeping it out. I also feel good that we’re able to convert it to money and we’re able to make our program grow,” Turnquist says. The recycling program at Fort Hood is self-sustaining. In fact, it’s downright profitable. “After we’re done paying for everything, we give back to the installation,” Turnquist reports. In addition to funding the Fourth of July fireworks display, Earth Day activities, and other outreach programs, in the past 18 months the program contributed $300,000 to the soldiers of Fort Hood — and all of that money is earmarked for Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs.
Sustaining our troops
The green movement is not limited to domestic operations.
“At one point in time about 80 percent of the convoys that were moving back and forth between Kuwait and Iraq with supplies were carrying fuel and water for the forward deployed troops,” Davis says. “Quite a lot of those convoys were getting hit by improvised explosive devices. That really got people’s attention.”
The Army is looking at renewable sources of energy for the battlefield that include solar, wind, and micro-hydroelectric power. “If we can reduce the consumption of fuel, then we can reduce the convoys and ultimately reduce the risk to the soldier,” Davis says.
“Reducing the need for energy is hard, and there is no magic fix for [DoD] or the nation,” Shaffer says, adding that DoD is addressing the challenge through a number of actions to reduce demand and increase supply. “First, we can improve the ways we use the current energy that we have, getting the maximum benefit from the sources on hand,” he says, “Second, we can participate in [the] development of alternative sources of energy to use, helping to create a market for these sources and technologies. Finally, we can reduce our need for energy through improving our own methods and techniques.”
“The challenge you have is to make sure that we’re able to provide the soldiers and the civilians in the field with the services, the support, and the supplies that they need to accomplish their mission,” Davis adds.
Because going green isn’t just about the environment — it’s a matter of national security.
