Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Federal Times
February 25, 2008
Pg. 1
By Tim Kauffman
The Air Force nearly doubled its use of green power during the past three months and far outstrips other agencies in using solar, wind and other environmentally friendly sources to meet its energy needs, new federal statistics show.
The Air Force purchases more than 899 million kilowatt-hours of power annually from green sources, which are non-carbon-based electricity sources that don’t emit harmful greenhouse gases. It is the largest purchaser of green power in government and the third-largest purchaser among public- and private-sector employers nationwide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The top two employers are Intel Corp., with 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of green power used annually; and PepsiCo, with 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours.
“Purchasing green power helps our organization become more sustainable, while also sending a message to others across the U.S. that supporting clean sources of electricity is a sound business decision and an important choice in reducing climate risk,” said Lt. Col. Navnit Singh, director of the Air Force Facility Energy Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., in a Feb. 19 statement.
Singh credits the sizable increase in green power usage to the combined efforts of 54 Air Force bases and many other reserve and National Guard bases. Two bases, Minot in North Dakota and Dyess in Texas, get all of their power from wind and biomass, which is energy derived from organic plant and waste material. Three other bases purchase more than half of their power from wind and biomass sources.
Air Force also has led the way in generating on-site renewable energy. It has a photovoltaic system at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., wind turbines at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., a wind farm at Ascension Island in the South Atlantic and a landfill gas generation facility at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. In December, the Air Force installed North America’s largest photovoltaic system at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Power from that system will be included in future EPA reports.
The agency is pursuing on-site renewable energy projects wherever they are “economically feasible and technically practicable,” Singh said.
The green power purchased by the Air Force each year amounts to about 9 percent of total electricity used by the service. It’s enough to power nearly 90,000 average homes each year or take 128,000 cars off the road, EPA said.
The Air Force is one of more than 850 employers nationwide participating in EPA’s Green Power Partnership program, in which participants voluntarily agree to purchase green power to reduce the harmful effects of conventional electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation sources.
Agencies and companies participating in the EPA program can meet the purchase requirements in three ways: by generating renewable energy on site, by paying utility companies to add green power to the mix of electricity they generate, and by purchasing so-called renewable energy certificates, which are credits for renewable energy that is generated and used elsewhere.
Agencies are required to purchase at least 3 percent of their energy a year from renewable sources and generate at least half that amount from sources put in place since January 1999. According to the latest scorecards measuring progress in meeting environmentally sustainable goals, 14 of 20 agencies met this goal.
February 25, 2008
Pg. 1
By Tim Kauffman
The Air Force nearly doubled its use of green power during the past three months and far outstrips other agencies in using solar, wind and other environmentally friendly sources to meet its energy needs, new federal statistics show.
The Air Force purchases more than 899 million kilowatt-hours of power annually from green sources, which are non-carbon-based electricity sources that don’t emit harmful greenhouse gases. It is the largest purchaser of green power in government and the third-largest purchaser among public- and private-sector employers nationwide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The top two employers are Intel Corp., with 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of green power used annually; and PepsiCo, with 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours.
“Purchasing green power helps our organization become more sustainable, while also sending a message to others across the U.S. that supporting clean sources of electricity is a sound business decision and an important choice in reducing climate risk,” said Lt. Col. Navnit Singh, director of the Air Force Facility Energy Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., in a Feb. 19 statement.
Singh credits the sizable increase in green power usage to the combined efforts of 54 Air Force bases and many other reserve and National Guard bases. Two bases, Minot in North Dakota and Dyess in Texas, get all of their power from wind and biomass, which is energy derived from organic plant and waste material. Three other bases purchase more than half of their power from wind and biomass sources.
Air Force also has led the way in generating on-site renewable energy. It has a photovoltaic system at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., wind turbines at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., a wind farm at Ascension Island in the South Atlantic and a landfill gas generation facility at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. In December, the Air Force installed North America’s largest photovoltaic system at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Power from that system will be included in future EPA reports.
The agency is pursuing on-site renewable energy projects wherever they are “economically feasible and technically practicable,” Singh said.
The green power purchased by the Air Force each year amounts to about 9 percent of total electricity used by the service. It’s enough to power nearly 90,000 average homes each year or take 128,000 cars off the road, EPA said.
The Air Force is one of more than 850 employers nationwide participating in EPA’s Green Power Partnership program, in which participants voluntarily agree to purchase green power to reduce the harmful effects of conventional electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation sources.
Agencies and companies participating in the EPA program can meet the purchase requirements in three ways: by generating renewable energy on site, by paying utility companies to add green power to the mix of electricity they generate, and by purchasing so-called renewable energy certificates, which are credits for renewable energy that is generated and used elsewhere.
Agencies are required to purchase at least 3 percent of their energy a year from renewable sources and generate at least half that amount from sources put in place since January 1999. According to the latest scorecards measuring progress in meeting environmentally sustainable goals, 14 of 20 agencies met this goal.