Fort Bragg is one of the U.S. Army’s biggest installations. Encompassing 250 square miles of North Carolina longleaf pine forest, the post is home to about 50,000 active-duty personnel, including the 82nd Airborne’s famed paratroopers.
In contrast to base closures occurring across the country, Fort Bragg is growing. New office buildings and barracks are being constructed or retrofitted. More energy-intensive computer systems are being installed to train soldiers in modern warfare. More people require more transportation options on roads named after important battles like Ardennes and Normandy.
"It’s the center of the military universe," said Gregory Bean, director of public works at Fort Bragg and a retired colonel.
This growth presents a big challenge for Fort Bragg’s small team of six civilian employees who manage the installation’s energy program. But the challenge they face – doing more with less – is not unique.
Across the country and in response to congressional legislation and military leadership, all branches are seeking ways to deploy more clean energy and energy efficient technologies on bases. More often than not, the private sector works alongside the military to get the job done.
In recent years, E2 has played an important role highlighting military efforts to increase clean energy in its operations, both on-base and off. For example, E2’s support of the U.S. Navy’s advanced biofuel initiatives culminated with a 2012, bipartisan U.S. Senate vote that allowed the Navy to continue its mission-critical biofuel purchases. And you can click here to read how one E2 member is helping the Army reach Net-Zero at California’s Fort Hunter-Liggett.
Now, E2 is building upon our past successes by visiting installations like Fort Bragg. We seek to better understand how the private sector can facilitate the military’s transition to cleaner, more efficient energy sources on bases and posts. E2’s work highlighting energy on bases also builds upon a foundation laid by Natural Resources Defense Council staff, who last spring jointly published a report with the Pentagon titled "Working with the Department of Defense: Siting Renewable Energy Development."
If Fort Bragg is any indication, private sector opportunities in this space are vast. From a green rooftop installed by a small Michigan company called LiveRoof that will lower cooling costs in a new $10 million mission-critical building, to sophisticated, post-wide meter monitoring software installed by Johnson Controls, innovative companies are profiting from their military partnerships.
For their part, Fort Bragg’s energy leaders help save taxpayers money over the long term and protect their post’s operational security.
"Our electric bill is the single-largest bill we pay," said Coby Jones, Fort Bragg’s energy manager. "We’re in a constant fight to try to find those energy efficiencies wherever we can."
Fort Bragg’s energy bill is close to $50 million annually. Most of the energy is generated from three offsite power plants that run on coal, nuclear, and natural gas. All the plants are operated by Duke Energy, the major North Carolina-based utility.
Fort Bragg Energy personnel admit it would be difficult for them to achieve Net-Zero status, an Army goal to have all installations produce as much energy as they consume. Due to limited solar resources in the region, as well as the hazard wind turbines pose to low-flying aircraft on a busy base, utility-scale clean energy projects at Fort Bragg are not feasible in the near-term. However, major opportunities remain, particularly in building efficiency.
Fort Bragg has more than 35 million square feet of building space – more than twice the square footage at Harvard’s Cambridge, Mass., campus. By retrofitting World War II-era buildings, coating building exteriors with energy-saving material, installing passive solar lighting that cuts electricity use while brightening interior hallways with natural sunlight, and increasing education measures, the post has made significant strides.
In fact, Fort Bragg’s building square footage and population are both growing at higher rates than the post’s energy consumption and energy costs.
"It’s because of better buildings and much better education programs," said Dr. Christine Gettys Hull, chief of Fort Bragg’s operations and maintenance division.
Energy efficiency measures at Fort Bragg are a small part of a much larger effort. According to "Power Surge," a recent report by The Pew Charitable Trusts detailing DoD’s efforts to increase energy security and save money, U.S. military installations must have their key energy requirements met 24 hours a day. Due to budget cuts, DoD is seeking to reduce the costs of meeting energy needs. With a $4 billion annual bill, facility energy is a fat target.
To realize savings, third-party financing helps the military obtain energy infrastructure enhancements and energy security benefits with minimal upfront costs, the Pew report states.
At Fort Bragg, people like Bean are tasked with ensuring the Army has the energy it needs to swiftly mount a large response to any global challenge. Bean said the people he works with are inspired by the soldiers they serve.
"We have soldiers who are ready to go into the great unknown in 18 hours," Bean said. "That’s a pretty special person that volunteers for that type of a mission. You can’t help but be around that type of soldier and not pick up some of that type of spirit, of that élan, of being special. Fort Bragg is a special place. We’ve got great people that do great things to help support the country, and we enjoy taking care of those soldiers and those families.