The Army announced April 19 the locations identified to be pilot net zero installations. As part of the Army's overall effort to conserve precious resources, net zero installations will consume only as much energy or water as they produce and eliminate solid waste to landfills.

A net zero energy installation produces as much energy on site as it uses over the course of a year. The Army's pilot net zero energy installations include two Army Reserve installations: Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif. and Parks Reserve Forces Training Area, Calif.

A net zero water installation limits the consumption of freshwater resources and returns water back to the same watershed so as not to deplete the groundwater and surface water resources of that region in quantity and quality over the course of a year. The Army's pilot net zero water installations include one Army Reserve installation: Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico.

A net zero waste installation reduces, reuses, and recovers waste streams, converting them to resource values with zero landfill over the course of a year. The Army's pilot net zero waste installations include one Army Reserve installation: Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif.

"Energy security and environmental sustainability are vitally important to the Army Reserve mission," said Mr. Addison (Tad) D. Davis, IV, Command Executive Officer and Director of Services and Infrastructure Core Enterprise for the United States Army Reserve. "We have fully embraced the Army's 'Net Zero' initiative and, in doing so, will become more efficient in our use of scare resources, less dependent on fossil fuel, and better stewards of the taxpayer dollar."

The Army Reserve has sponsored "green" projects at other facilities, including the installation of a photovoltaic solar panel system on the roof of the 99th Regional Support Command headquarters at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.; exploring the use of geothermal energy at an Army Reserve facility in Devens, Mass.; and building a new Army Reserve center in Las Cruces, N.M., that will qualify for either gold- or platinum-level LEED certification.

At 162,000 acres, Fort Hunter Liggett is the largest installation in the Army Reserve. The post took a leap towards sustainability April 8 with a groundbreaking ceremony to install a solar microgrid project. The one megawatt facility will arch over an existing parking area, an ingenious dual use of land. When complete, the grid will provide enough energy to heat and cool 200 homes and save the installation approximately $1 million per year in energy costs. Fort Hunter Liggett is located between Los Angeles and San Francisco, near King City, Calif.

Camp Parks, Dublin, Calif. is a 2,000-plus acre training facility used by about 20,000 Reserve Soldiers in Northern California. Earlier this month, land developer SunCal signed an agreement with the Army Reserve to construct new military facilities at Camp Parks in exchange for 180 acres of land to develop into a master-planned community. It was the Department of Defense's largest-ever reserve property exchange agreement and will provide the installation with modern facilities at no cost to taxpayers.

Fort Buchanan, a 700 acre installation located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is the only Department of Defense installation in the Caribbean Basin area and supports both Reserve Component and Active Component Soldiers in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.