Battling it Out for the Planet

In attempts to stomp the rumor that they're the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, The U.S. Army is looking to cut their emissions to reduce their "bootprint", and in doing so, will save the lives of soldiers in Iraq. Ted Davis, deputy assistant secretary for the environment, safety and occupational health in the Army said, "The goal is to bring Army emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide down by 30 percent by 2015." (Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters) Davis's goal is to first gauge how much emissions are processed by the army, then work to reduce that number.

The Army has previously worked to environmentally sustain its bases, starting with the massive Fort Brag in North Carolina back in 2001. This involved changing the way training ranges were incorporated for combat. "Each village used to cost up to 400,000 dollars to build. Now they are made of recycled truck-sized shipping containers at a cost of about 25,000 dollars," Davis added. The shipping containers are separated from the solid waste stream.

In the first couple years of the Iraq War, long supply chains stretching from Kuwait to the battlefield put convoys at risk from "makeshift bombs called IEDs." Most of that cargo was fuel. When there's less fuel involved, there's less risk for those soldiers on the frontline. Davis's idea to replace fuel consumption and diesel generators by wind or solar could reduce supply convoys that are being attacked by IEDs.

Poorly insulated Army tents on location in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Djibouti showed 85 of the energy going towards air conditioning units. But keeping the tents cool by alternatively placing foam insulation sprayed directly on the tents "cut the loss of energy by 45 percent."

Limiting greenhouse emissions from Army vehicles proves to be a more difficult challenge. But Davis said emerging technology is allowing for lighter-weight armor, as well as hybrid vehicles being designed for large military fleet vehicles.

Mainly, once the Army tackles exactly the magnitude of emissions they are putting out there, people like Davis will be able to better assess their needs. But he admits there is lots of work to be done. For example, Fort Carson in Colorado emits 205,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, which equals the same as a town of 25,000 people.