Environmental Sustainability at
Military Installations –
The Realm of Possibility
Overview
• How we advance
• What can change
• The realm of possibility
How We Advance
• We dream
• We create
• We adapt
We Dream
We have had visionaries who see the future,
take Jules Verne for example. His 1863 book
“The Earth to the Moon”, predicted:
• The shape and size of the Apollo command
module
• The number of crew (3)
• Launch from Florida near KSC
• A competition between TX and FL to be the
launch center
• Weightlessness in space
• Splashdown in the Pacific
We Create
When inspired, we are an industrious
species – we create by:
• Inventing new technologies and
approaches
• Using models from nature
• Refining our own models and
systems
We Adapt
As important, if not more important, is our
ability to recognize the benefits of
inventions and understand how they will
make our life and world better.
What Can Change
• Technologies
• Procedures (like purchasing, contracting,
design)
• Approaches (like reduction, reuse,
recycling, treatment, and disposal)
• Habits (resource use, transportation
patterns, product selection)
The Trick is Knowing
Which environmental impacts is it
possible to prevent or decrease
cost-effectively?
How to accomplish the end-state?
When is a technology ready?
The Realm of Possibility
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Energy Conservation
Renewable Energy
Water Supply and Use
Stormwater Protection
Transportation
Material Use
The Realm of Possibility –
Energy Conservation
What if….we built “green”
buildings?
Rocky Mountain Institute
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Super insulated
Solar heated
Passively cooled
Heat exchangers
Daylit
Water efficiency
Efficient lighting,
equipment
 PV arrays
Savings:
 90% electrical
 99% space/water
heating
 10 month payback
 Power bill $5/month
 Market-average cost
when built in 1984
Grow bananas with
no furnace at -40°F
State-of-the-shelf
Currently available technologies can:
• Make old buildings 3X to 4X more efficient
• New buildings 10X more efficient
The Power of Conservation
If every person in California would retire one
light – there would be no energy crisis in
California
Even the most minor changes can result in
huge reductions in energy consumption
and emission of air pollutants
The Realm of Possibility –
Renewable Energy
“Pond Scum may be a synonym for primitive, but
the tiny organisms that compose it easily beat the
human state of the art to capturing energy from
the sun. Some purple bacteria…use (solar) light
with almost 95% efficiency – more than four
times that of our best man-made solar cells…”
USC new release 22 AUG 94
Fort Lewis Buys Green Power
Three percent of the power purchased by Fort
Lewis comes from renewable sources like wind…
This unit examined a photovoltaic power station in a field and
simulated field environment. The bottom line is this system with
some modifications can be used to provide the primary power source
for a Battalion sized Airborne Infantry Tactical Operation Center.
From Analysis of Deployable Applications of PV in Theater (ADAPT): Steve Siegel, Dec 00
New Fuels
Scott Air Force Base is scheduled to use
bio-based diesel fuel blends in 270
vehicles. Bio-based diesel fuel is:
• Composed of soy and other oils and can
be blended with petroleum diesel.
• Reduces carcinogenic releases by 7590%.
• Requires no vehicle modifications.
• Is bio-degradable and sulfur free.
The Realm of Possibility –
Water Supply and Use
“Whiskey is for drinking, water is for
fighting for…” Our ancestors understood
the importance of water. Maybe, we need
to rethink our use of water as well.
Implement Efficient End-use
Technologies and Practices
Wastewater Technology is available to
cascade water from higher to lower
quality needs
Greywater.com
Seven Principles of
Xeriscaping
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Water conserving design
Low water use/drought tolerant plants
Reduction in turf
Water harvesting techniques
Appropriate irrigation method
Use of mulches
Proper maintenance practices
How would you design a sewage plant if
you had to live downwind?
Living Machines™ turn sewage
into clean water and flowers.
Dr. John Todd
Realm of Possibility –
Stormwater Protection
What if…we took advantage of
natural systems to keep storm
water clean?
Maybe we’d have less
Fishkills
Polluted
runoff
Sewer
overflows
Inconsistent flow
Fort Lewis Reduces Erosion
Hardened river crossings reduce impact on
the surface water and stream banks
Village Homes, Davis California
Leveraging natural storm water management
Swales, infiltration
basins, vegetated
filter strips
Savings:
$800/lot plus
more green
space, crop
sales, coolth,
quality of life,
market value.
Porous Paving / Infiltration
Islands
Berlin, Leipzig
Ford Dearborne Plant
Is investing an additional $8M in a green
roof, porous pavement for parking lot
(reduced cost), and a constructed wetland
for landscaping.
Savings will include elimination of a $40M
stormwater management system and $6M
budgeted for landscaping.
Stream Day Lighting
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Courtesy of Zürich Sewerage Dept.
Courtesy of DeKalb County, GA Parks Dept.
The Realm of Possibility Transportation
What if…we had less-polluting
vehicles?
Hybrid Vehicles
Gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles get
double the gas mileage and reduce
air emissions by 40% - on sale now
at dealers in Japan, Europe, and
America
Alternative-fueled Vehicles
• Natural gas, propane, electric, hybrid gas-electric
• GSA provides some AFVs
• Major automakers predict mass production of
fuel-cell powered cars by 2005
• Fuel cells turn hydrogen and oxygen into
electricity and hot water - no harmful emissions
and 50% more efficient
than traditional power production
The Hypercar
• Concept design put in public domain by Rocky
Mountain Institute in early 90s
• 70-80% fuel savings - and reduced air emissions
• Conventional fuel or fuel cells
• Major automakers have spent roughly $5B to
develop prototypes
• The race is on!
Photo courtesy of The Hypercar Center/
Rocky Mountain Institute
Working with the Region
Fort Lewis has joined with its regional
partners to work for cleaner air…
The Realm of Possibility –
Material Use
What if….we used less of the world’s
material resources?
Life Cycle of a Can of Coke
Warning, the following life cycle is
disturbing. If you are bothered by
senselessly wasteful behavior, you may
want to avert your eyes, cover your ears,
and think about something else.
Step 1 - bauxite is
mined in Australia
Step 2 - bauxite is
trucked to plant for
chemical processing
1 ton ore yields 1/2
of Aluminum Oxide
Step 3 - shipped to
Norway for
processing
Step 4 - oxide sits at
smelter site for up to
2 months
Step 5 - 2-hour
smelting reduces 1/2
of oxide into 1/4 ton
of metal
Step 6 - metal ingot
cured and shipped to
Germany to be rolled
Step 11 - can is
lacquered and
coated inside
Step 7 - ingot is
heated to 900F and
rolled into coil
Step 12 - cans are
palletized, stored,
and shipped
Step 8 - coil is
stored and cold
rolled into sheet
Step 14 - bottler
cleans and fills with
product
Step 9 - sheet metal
is shipped to England
punched and formed
into cans
Step 15 - cans are
packed in
promotional boxes
palletized and
shipped to retailer
Step 10 - can is
washed, dried,
primed and painted
Step 16 - Can is purchased, contents
consumed within a few minutes and
is thrown away
Product Leasing
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Interface Carpet
Automobiles
Furniture
Red rags
Paper?
Fort Chaffee Building
Deconstruction
• Partnership between Army and Habitat for
Humanity
• Negotiated with Fort Chaffee Local
Redevelopment Authority
• Over 600 large buildings (2 story WWII
barracks)
• Large amount of salvageable siding, windows,
doors
• Over 10 million board feet of old-growth
yellow pine
• Value $20-40M
Aggressive Waste Contracts
Rutgers Camden Campus recycles 20+ items
through its contracted waste services.
Accomplished by:
• Writing gradually more comprehensive
contracts
• Obtaining input from service providers
• Off-setting costs (recycling makes a profit!)
Can the Government Push the
Development of New
Technology?
Obviously yes - we do it all the time in
system development:
•Global Position Satellite Systems
•Fuel cells
•Solar and wind technologies
•Battery technologies
Harnessing Market Forces
Our success will rest, in part, in our ability
to harness the desire of companies to do
business with us.
Further, we need to articulate our needs to
industry, evaluate what they suggest, and
determine when technologies are ready
for our use and can be provided in
sufficient volume to meet our needs.
What does Sustainability
Cost?
The question should be – what does nonsustainability really cost?
How much more advanced could we be if we
used improved technologies?
Obligatory Quote
“The face of the Earth is a graveyard – and so it
has always been…each living thing restores
when it dies that which has been borrowed to
give form and substance to its brief day in the
sun. What is lent by the Earth has been used by
countless generations of plants and animals
long dead and will be required by countless
future generations in the future…”
Paul B. Sears, naturalist
Obligatory Guilt
How long will humankind’s legacy of environmental
damage or stewardship last…
How long will it take for our planet, our home to heal
what we do to it…
How long will we be here to see and enjoy our
home…
Leaving with a Challenge
The time is now to:
• Use what we know and take advantage of
innovations
• Help the government, the world’s largest
purchaser, drive change
• Look for opportunities to encourage new
innovations
• Take responsibility for what we do personally
and professionally to make our society
sustainable