Armed with Science | Tag Archive

The ‘Green’ Military Installation Of The Future

Filed under Energy by jtozer on April 16, 2013 at 7:02 am {no comments}

Army and sustainability?

Solar panel arrays form a canopy at a construction site in Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif., March 12, 2013. The construction site is for phase 1 and 2 of a solar microgrid project at the installation, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District. (Photo by John R. Prettyman, USACE)

Using those two words in the same sentence several years ago would have probably been considered the punch line to a joke.

But today, a military base that is both environmentally friendly and meets the needs of warfighters, is quickly becoming a reality.

Fort Hunter Liggett, with nearly 162,000 acres of forest, mountains and rivers, is located in Monterey County, Calif., and is one of several U.S. Army pilot installations selected to be net zero energy and net zero waste by 2020.

This means the installation will create as much energy as it uses, and reuse and recover all of its waste products.

“The net zero initiative is going to provide energy security for this installation and it’s also a priority for the Army,” said Col. Donna Williams, garrison commander for Fort Hunter Liggett.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the way in managing construction on major energy projects at Fort Hunter Liggett and is nearing completion on the second phase of four solar microgrids.

“Phase one of the solar project was completed last year and it’s generating one megawatt of power. Phase two is going to add another one megawatt of power,” said Bob Roy, project engineer with the Corps’ Sacramento District.

One megawatt is enough energy to power up to 300 homes.

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Rigid Walls > Canvas Tents

Filed under Energy by jtozer on March 28, 2013 at 7:17 am {no comments}

When it comes to providing comfortable living spaces for deployed soldiers while saving time, money, fuel and water, rigid walls beat canvas every time.

Rigid-wall camps promise to provide a better quality of life for deployed soldiers while saving time, money, fuel and water. (By David Kamm, NSRDEC Photographer)

If you doubt that, just consult the experts at Product Manager Force Sustainment Systems, or PM FSS, at Natick Soldier Systems Center, who have been comparing rigid-wall test camps at Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Bliss, Texas, with the existing “Force Provider” 150-man tent system.

“The soldier piece is the big one,” said Mike Hope, Combat Field Service Equipment Team leader for PM FSS. “If he or she is more comfortable, we did our job.”

Hope, lead project engineer Bob Graney and assistant product manager Capt. Micah Rue have no doubts that rigid-wall camps represent a step up from the Temper Tent (air supported) Force Provider base camps currently found in Afghanistan.

According to Hope, a rigid-wall camp “provides a high quality of life, much higher than standard tents and canvas.”

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From Virtual Marksmanship To Waste Water Reuse

Filed under Education & Culture, Logistics by jtozer on March 11, 2013 at 7:54 am {no comments}

Army commands can start thinking now about submitting study proposals to the Army Study Program Management Office for consideration this summer.

A study is underway now, funded by the Army Study Program Management Office, to look into the incorporation of the fully burdened cost of energy into combat modeling. The fully burdened cost of energy — the cost of a gallon of fuel in theater, for instance — takes into account not just the initial cost of fuel at sale, but also the cost of transporting it to where it is needed — such as by convoy. (Photo by C. Todd Lopez)

Meghan Mariman, director of the Army Study Program Management Office, known as ASPMO, which is part of G-8 at the Pentagon, said that each year, her office pays for about 30 studies at the request of Headquarters, Department of the Army agencies and Army-level commands.

A study, she said, is a research project or an effort to make a project more efficient.

The ASPMO is funding studies this year into traumatic brain injury monitoring, risk assessment, leadership development, and cyberspace operations, for instance.

“We’re looking to make smarter decisions, to either make a process more efficient or more effective,” Mariman said.

Funded in fiscal year 2013 by ASPMO are studies on cyberspace defensive operations, the effectiveness of the Selected Reserve Incentive Program in maintaining the Reserve force, the use of locally-sourced materials for construction of facilities in theater, and something called “Neurocognitive Temporal Training and Marksmanship Performance.”

“Using a virtual environment, soldiers can become better sharpshooters,” Mariman said of the study on neurocognitive training. “And they can use a virtual environment, which saves money; the Office of the Surgeon General has some brilliant work going on.”

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Army Reserve Working To Reduce Wasted Energy

Filed under Energy by jtozer on March 7, 2013 at 7:10 am {no comments}

Fort Brag’s Directorate of Public Works partnered with Army Reserve’s Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 169th Aviation Regiment on an existing training mission to see where light energy was being wasted in an effort to reduce Fort Bragg’s energy consumption. (U.S. Army photo by Timothy Hale/Released)

In an ongoing effort to save taxpayer dollars, the post’s Directorate of Public Works reached out to Army Reserve aviation for help.

Garrison energy officials figured the best way to look for wasted energy was to go up – literally.

Partnering with the Army Reserve’s Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 169th Aviation Regiment, based at Simmons Army Airfield, a DPW official boarded a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a previously-scheduled night training mission to find the hotspots on post.

The mission to find wasted light energy was in response to a Jan. 23, 2013, memorandum from the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment. The memo outlines the way ahead for installations to save energy costs and holds commanders “accountable for energy use in the facilities they occupy.”

Gregory Bean, the garrison DPW director, said this Army-wide effort ties directly into the utility consumption reports his office sends out to organizations on Fort Bragg.

“If you don’t take ownership of your costs, you will never conserve,” Bean said. “If you don’t know what it costs to operate your facility, it’s not real to you. What we’re trying to do is showcase where we are wasting energy … and encourage you to conserve energy and conserve costs.”

What is the best way to find who is wasting energy?

Fly over an installation at night, take photographs of areas in question, and see who is unnecessarily burning the midnight oil, so to speak.

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Using Microbes to Generate Electricity

Filed under Energy, Featured, Videos by jtozer on February 28, 2013 at 7:22 am {no comments}

Humanity is running on full power.

From the lights in our houses to our mobile devices, we are an energized society. And future energy sources could come from some pretty unlikely places.

Dr. Lenny Tender, an NRL research chemist, explains the mechanics of his benthic microbial fuel cell. A recent recipient of the Arthur S. Fleming Award, Tender is an internationally recognized leader in microbial fuel cell research. (Photo: Jamie Hartman, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Dr. Lenny Tender, a research chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), has co-invented a device, known as a benthic microbial fuel cell, that persistently generates electrical power in marine environments. The fuel cell is being developed to persistently operate oceanographic sensors.

“It’s able to generate electricity just like a windmill,” Tender said. “It’s an energy harvester.”

The fuel cell draws electricity from the sea floor, creating an interface between the sediment on the bottom of a marine environment and the overlying water.

“At the bottom of the marine environment we have sediment, and the mud at the bottom of a harbor, river, lake or the ocean actually has quite a bit of fuel in it,” says Tender. “If you can think of anything that has ever lived in the marine environment, phytoplankton, sea creatures, etc., when they die they settle on the sea floor. And like leaves on the lawn, they start decomposing. This represents a pretty potent fuel source. What we do is put electrodes into this already made battery.”

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The Eco-friendly Future Of U.S. Army Technologies

Filed under Energy, Videos by jtozer on January 27, 2013 at 7:35 am {no comments}

Check out the U.S. Army‘s fuel-efficient demonstrator, or FED.

The FED sports a number of fuel-saving technologies, such as low-rolling resistance tires, and optimized super turbo charged engine, lightweight aluminum armored cab, and it’s 70% more fuel efficient.

Check this out:

Video provided by the USArmy’s RDECOM YouTube channel

Now, you won’t see troops rolling all over the globe in these eco-friendly babies just yet, but it does serve as an example of the kind of technologies that are being researched and developed for the U.S. military forces.

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DOD Electric Vehicles Will Supply Power to Local Grids

Filed under Energy by jtozer on January 23, 2013 at 7:48 am {no comments}

As the military continues to move away from dependence on fossil fuels, the Defense Department plans to spend $20 million on a fleet of electric vehicles unique in their ability to export their own power and offset their cost.

Camron Gorguinpour, special assistant to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, said the department expects to lease as many as 500 electric vehicles at six different installations beginning later this year.

All will be modified versions of electric vehicles already on the market with costs ranging from $30,000 to $100,000.

“What we have identified is a path forward that will allow us to bring electric vehicles into our fleet that are less costly than conventional vehicles,” he said.

The Air Force has the lead on the project, which envisions Los Angeles Air Force Base becoming the first federal facility to replace everything from passenger sedans to shuttle buses with electric versions.

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‘BigBelly’ Devours Waste At Natick

Filed under Energy, STEM by jtozer on January 6, 2013 at 7:40 am {no comments}

Rich Valcourt checks on a “BigBelly” solar-powered waste disposal unit at Natick Soldier Systems Center, Mass. NSSC has 12 of the units positioned across the installation.

When it comes to devouring waste, the Natick Soldier Systems Center has found a hungry helper in the BigBelly Solar Intelligent Waste and Recycling Collection System.

Natick purchased 12 BigBelly units in August and distributed them around the 78-acre installation in October, to collect waste.

Ten of the self-sufficient units, which weigh 170 pounds and have 50-gallon waste bins each, are outside and powered by solar panels, compact waste independently and provide real-time data by satellite about their fill status. The other two, situated indoors, plug into electrical outlets.

The entire “smart” system is linked and can be monitored by desktop computer, allowing for efficient waste-removal operations.

“It tells me when it’s full, when it’s getting full, how many times it’s compacted,” said Rich Valcourt, an environmental engineer at Natick. “You save resources and time (and) dedicate your resources where they belong.”

When a unit goes yellow or red on his computer screen, Valcourt knows that its bin is either nearly or completely full. He then emails a crew to pick up waste just at that container.

“Time is everything. Time means money,” Valcourt explained. “Instead of spending (time) going around emptying all the containers on post, I can just tell them, ‘Go empty this one and this one.”’

In the past, crews operated with much less information.

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