|
|
|
Army’s Olive Drab Turns Brighter Shade of Green
by Cassandra Stern
FORT CARSON, Colorado - Few realize that the U.S. Department of Defense is one of the largest purchasers and users of green energy in the country. The Air Force is the government’s largest buyer and the Army’s Fort Carson Base is home to the seventh largest photovoltaic (PV) generating station in the nation.
“It’s a very visible part of our installation. It lets people know we are committed to renewable and sustainable energy,” said Vincent Guthrie, Fort Carson’s utilities program manager.
The American military has good reasons for adopting a strong renewable energy policy: national security and controlling costs. According to the Census Bureau, the United States spent over $340 billion to import crude oil in 2008, nearly $20 billion more than in 2007, and far above the $79 billion spent for imported crude in 2002. In addition, the United States imported more than $80 billion oil products. The U.S. military accounts for 1.5 percent of the nation’s energy use, according to Pentagon figures.
The military’s attention to clean energy is not new. During the Clinton Administration, for instance, the Rocky Mountain Institute, one of the nation’s top energy efficiency research centers, assisted in a Pentagon modernization that included installing significant clean energy, energy efficiency, and energy conservation equipment and practices.
Clean Energy Is A Military Focus
What is new is how sophisticated the Pentagon’s approach to clean energy has become, and how deeply environmental and sustainability values have penetrated in the military. Last year, for instance, the Defense Appropriations Act required the Defense Department to include fuel efficiency as a key performance parameter when modifying or developing new machinery that consumes fuel, such as tanks or jets.
It also required that the life cycle cost analyses for new military capabilities include the cost of fuel, which includes the total cost of all personnel and assets required to deliver and protect the fuel. Another section of the bill required the Defense Department to consider the use of wind and solar energy for expeditionary forces to reduce the need to deliver fuel to battle areas, where electricity is typically produced by oil-fueled generators.
These and other new requirements are pushing the military to pursue clean energy practices across its installations. A Pentagon news release in October 2008 made public the Army’s plan to construct a 500-megawatt solar thermal plant at Fort Irwin, Calif, in the Mojave Desert, that will provide renewable power on the grid and provide the sprawling Army post with added energy security against disruption of power supply. When completed after 2010, It will be one of the largest solar thermal power plants in the country.
The Army is buying 4,000 small Neighborhood Electric Vehicles to replace gasoline-powered vehicles traditionally used by maintenance and operations staff for use on its posts. Six Army posts have been selected as sites for biomass fuel demonstration projects. And the Army and the Navy are collaborating on the development of a major geo-thermal project at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada that will be capable of producing 30 megawatts of clean power
The Fort Carson Army Base, an active player in advancing the new strategy, has set the goal of powering all of its facilities and mobility systems with renewable sources by 2027.
Fort Carson At Center of Military Clean Energy Drive
The Fort Carson solar project cost $13 million, $6 million of that for the photovoltaic panels. The project was financed through a power purchase agreement with Xcel Energy and installed by Conergy USA. The PV station produces two megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 540 homes and offset 28 percent of the base’s fossil fuel use throughout the array’s forty year lifespan. The solar generating station lies on 12 acres of landfill, which would otherwise be left empty and unused.
“Bravo, Fort Carson,” said Democratic Governor Bill Ritter, who campaigned in 2006 on a clean energy, good jobs platform and last year recognized the base with an “Excellence in Renewable Energy Award.” “This is another example of how we are building a new energy economy here in Colorado. We are demonstrating the importance of clean energy for our environment, our economy, and our nation’s energy security.”
The Governor’s Office says the clean energy economy is attracting thousands of new jobs to Colorado. In 2007, the governor signed into law a measure that requires utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.
The state also is investing millions of dollars in clean energy projects, offering tax credits to producers of renewable energy, and hosting Xcel Energy’s first SmartGridCity in Boulder.
Guthrie says Colorado’s forward thinking energy policy makes sense in markets and dollars, and is helping advance the industry. It is drawing Colorado closer to the moment when renewable energy costs are on par with that of fossil fuels.
“It’s the incentives that drive these things. That’s what makes the numbers work,” Guthrie said. Basic supply and demand brings prices down as more projects use solar power.
Cassandra Stern, a former reporter for The Washington Post, contributes to the Apollo Alliance.
For More Information
Fort Carson
Vincent Guthrie
Phone: 719-526-2927
Governor Ritter’s Office
Evan Dreyer
Spokesman
Phone: 303-866-6324
Cell: 720-350-8370
Email: evan.dreyer@state.co.us
|
|
