Military going green in the desert

FORT IRWIN • Any soldier or employee at Fort Irwin has felt what might become the post’s two most valuable resources.

“We have two things the energy companies need,” said Garrison Commander Col. Jim Chevallier, “lots of sun and lots of wind.”

And Fort Irwin intends to harness them. In an effort to reduce its environmental bootprint on the Mojave Desert, Fort Irwin has rolled out a series of initiatives aimed at increasing sustainability and use of renewable energy on post. Currently, Fort Irwin is one of Southern California Edison’s top energy consumers. Chevallier would like the post to from near the top to completely off the grid.

“And we set a pretty aggressive goal of getting it done in two years,” he said.

In two years, Chevallier plans to finish a renewable energy plant at Fort Irwin that will produce enough energy through wind and solar to power the entire post and pump excess energy back into the Edison grid. He also has a list of other initiatives to reduce the strain Fort Irwin puts on the desert’s relatively thin resources. New buildings will be to strict environmental standards, external lights will run on solar energy, soldiers will receive incentives for using less energy and pay extra for using too much, and electric vehicles will roll up and down the post’s streets. In addition to energy, Chevallier said the post will build a water recycling plant to divert some wastewater into irrigation stock for the few spots on post with grass.

Across the Army, posts are developing ways to cut down on the amount of energy they use. Several pilot programs at Fort Irwin have tested different ways to decrease the amount spent on fuel for generators both at the National Training Center and in Iraq. Eric Gardner has headed many of the post’s green initiatives.

One project has been creating semi-permanent foam tents for entire troops of soldiers to sleep in while training. Using the existing cloth tent as a shell, foam is sprayed on the inside, creating sealed and solid walls. It used to take up to 200 kilowatts of energy from a fuel generator to cool and heat a tent, but with the foam tent, it only takes about 30 kilowatts, Gardner said. The reduction in energy saves millions of dollars, but Gardner said the real push is to make the soldier more comfortable at Fort Irwin and eventually in Iraq.

“It’s really about the soldier,” Gardner said. “We’re giving the soldier a better environment to train in. We’re giving a better sleep.”

More foam tents will spring up around Fort Irwin soon. The post is also pilot testing more permanent domes powered by wind and solar energy. John Wagstaffe, a spokesman for the post, said if the Army can reduce the amount of fuel it uses to power generators at desert outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan, it will reduce the number of fuel tankers, prime targets for insurgents, criss-crossing the roads.

Chevallier said at Fort Irwin, the leadership realized that sustainability was critical to continuing the training provided there. Pulling energy from the resources abundant at Fort Irwin helps put a dent in the United States dependence on foreign oil, and it keeps the costs down.

“We’re like everyone else,” Chevallier said. “We’ve got to pay our electrical bill.”

The we, of course, refers to the taxpayers.

A hefty bill

$30 million   | Estimated amount Fort Irwin and visiting rotational units spend per year on powering lights on keeping tents cool
35 million     | Estimated tons of carbon emissions saved from foamed tents and domes
$105 million | Estimated amount not spent after five years of using foamed tents and domes
35 years       | Amount of water left in the aquifer that serves Fort Irwin
Source: Fort Irwin

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4121 or aaupperlee@desertdispatch.com