Texas base is a leader in using solar, wind and geothermal energy
FORT BLISS – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today is getting a first-hand glimpse of the state-of-the-art renewable energy facilities at Fort Bliss, the second largest Army installation in the country.
The 1,700-square mile fort in New Mexico and Texas is a leader in the use of solar, wind and geothermal energy within the Department of Defense. Energy saving efforts now underway – including the construction of a large solar photovoltaic system – will reduce energy use on the fort by as much as 30 percent over the next six years.
Giffords, a member of the House Committees on Armed Services and Science & Technology, is touring the fort at the invitation of its commanding officer, Major General Howard Bromberg. The Arizona lawmaker has long championed greater use of clean, renewable energy.
The U.S. Army, like other branches of the armed forces, is rapidly expanding the use of renewable energy. The Army recently announced the construction of the largest solar project in the Defense Department, a 500 megawatt solar project at Fort Irwin in California. The department’s largest solar project to date, a 14 megawatt photovoltaic array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, was completed in 2007. The Army’s current largest array, generating 2 megawatts, is at Fort Carson in Colorado.
One of the primary advantages in using military installations for solar arrays is the availability of large tracts of land; the Defense Department controls 25 million acres in the United States. The department also has a large incentive to reduce energy consumption at its installations; it owns approximately 350,000 buildings, about a third of which are more than 50 years old.
The Pentagon has set an internal goal of obtaining 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015. The Defense Department is the largest single consumer of energy in the United States. It spent $13.6 billion to buy 110 million barrels of petroleum in 2006.
At Fort Bliss, an energy savings performance plan is expected to save more than $500,000 annually. The work includes retrofitting lighting fixtures in 56 buildings for energy efficiency, installing light occupancy monitors in 25 buildings and installing a solar water heating system at the aquatic center.
Fort Bliss is home to the Army’s 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Brigade Combat Teams of the 1st Armored Division and Joint Task Force North. JTF North supports our nation’s federal law enforcement agencies in the identification and interdiction of suspected transnational threats within and along the approaches to the continental United States.