US Military Emissions Assessment at Army Bases

The US Army has enlisted a firm to assess its environmental credentials, it emerged on July 20th 2009.  11 US Army bases across America will be examined in several ways, including their individual levels of greenhouse gas emissions.  From this, their so-called “carbon bootprint” will be established, and this will be used as a framework for wider enviro-directives across the US military as a whole.

New Clean Energy Technologies

The US military buys more energy than any other organisation in the US.  On this basis, it ought to provide a solid platform for implementing new clean energy (renewable energy-based) technologies and mechanisms, and this is something that is already taking place.  For example, some of the most expansive photovoltaic facilities (which convert sunlight into electricity) in the US are sited at military installations.

According to one official, the recommendations that this new carbon bootprint study is expected to bring up have the potential to “deliver important benefits to our forward deployed forces.”

“By reducing requirements for resupply, we are able to reduce the number of convoys, a primary target for ambushes taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example”, US Army environmental, safety and occupational health deputy assistant secretary Tad Davis added.

US Military Carbon Footprint

The company being used by the US Army is Enviance, which has already carried out an initial assessment of Colorado’s Fort Carson base, where 23,000 members of the US armed forces are based.  According to Enviance, the site’s annual emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases reach up to 220,000 tons.  11 lots of 220,000 tons is approximately equivalent to the greenhouse gas emission output of a single, small-scale industrial coal-burning plant.  On an even wider scale, the US military’s carbon footprint can be seen to rank alongside the world’s largest polluters.

Carbon Sequestration Methods

As well as calculating the level of emissions, Enviance also intends to look at carbon sequestration methods taking place at these bases (carbons sequestration involves stripping the air of emissions through processes like CCS – carbon capture and storage).   An example of a site with a carbon sequestration plan in action is that of Georgia’s Fort Benning, where local forests are acting as carbon sinks and, thus, naturally offsetting the base’s own emissions.

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