A strange thing has happened in the politicization of climate change: Oil has become something conservatives must love, while things like energy efficiency and renewable energy have become stand-ins for liberal politics, government intervention, taxes, take your pick. So it is that people are always surprised to learn that one of the biggest proponents of green technology in the United States is that most conservative of organizations, the U.S. military. Reducing energy use, in particular this country’s dependence on fossil fuels, has become a priority amongst all branches of the military pretty much since we got involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, and given that the Department of Defense is the single largest consumer of energy in the country (spending about $4 billion per year on facility energy consumption), it has started with its own house.
Time and again top military leaders have spoken out against our dependence on oil as a matter of national security. The thing you need to remember about the military, though, is that it’s comprised more of doers than talkers. To wit, the Department of Defense has been making major investments of time and money in green technology of various kinds over the last several years, and has been executing plans to improve efficiency and reduce energy usage far faster than any of the countless state, local and federal programs we hear so much more about.
The work has begun, as any resource optimization plan should, with efficiency. In addition to the Air Force’s energy conservation program, the DoD is researching and testing several technologies through its Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). Concurrently, the Army and Navy have both kicked off net zero programs, aimed at reducing not only energy use on bases, but also water use and waste. The Navy is aiming for 50 percent of its bases to have net zero energy consumption by 2020. Compared to any states renewable energy portfolio standard or energy efficiency program that is extremely aggressive, but the Navy is confident it will get it done.
The Army, meanwhile, kicked off a net-zero base competition in 2010, selecting winners for its net-zero base pilot program in spring 2011. The Army identified six net zero pilot installations in each of the energy, water, and waste categories and two integrated installations striving towards net zero on all fronts by 2020. In its Vision for Net Zero, the Army states:
By all accounts, the competition was a huge success, with base commanders putting a lot of time and energy into their proposals, and now even those that were not selected are forging ahead with their plans.
Gensler cites Major General Dana Pittard, Commanding General of Fort Bliss, in west Texas, as an example of such a commander. Although the net zero program has set 2020 as the target date, Commanding General Pittard intends to get his base to net zero energy by 2015.
The net zero programs are fairly thinly funded at the Pentagon level, but the individual bases have thrown their full support behind it, finding funding not only through various government programs but also from the private sector. It turns out most renewable energy developers and cleantech manufacturers would love to have a military base installation to showcase, and banks see the military as a great, low-risk investment.
There are a lot of moving pieces and a variety of agencies, companies, and funding sources involved, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing the military’s progress at all.
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