FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Fort Carson collected its fourth Federal Energy and Water Management Award and third Secretary of the Army Energy and Water Management Award in July 2015.
The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), in cooperation with the Federal Interagency Energy Policy Committee, sponsors the annual federal award to recognize individuals and organizations for significant contributions to energy and water efficiency within the federal government.
This year, Fort Carson took home honors for its overall energy and water conservation program efforts. The previous FEMP recognition included a Water Management Award in 2001, Energy Efficiency/Energy Management Award in 2003 and Program Team and Director's Awards in 2013.
The Mountain Post also won its third Secretary of the Army Energy and Water Management Award since 2008, in the Energy Efficiency/Energy Management category this year. Previous Army awards earned included the Renewable/Alternative Energy Award in 2008 and the Water Conservation Award in 2014.
"The accomplishments of Fort Carson demonstrate our installation's total commitment and continuous progress in using resources more efficiently and, ultimately, saving defense dollars," said Garrison Commander Col. Joel D. Hamilton. "The Fort Carson Team is known as a leader throughout the Army and beyond for our legacy of doing the right thing when it comes to conserving energy and water."
The installation earned the top spot in both award rounds for energy projects and outreach efforts in fiscal 2014, which included completing several energy and water projects, pushing energy awareness and continuing to engage critical partnerships to investigate additional renewable energy opportunities.
The Directorate of Public Works (DPW) Energy Team successfully leveraged multiple funding programs including the Energy Conservation Investment Program, Energy Savings Performance Contracts and Military Construction dollars to improve energy efficiencies and add more renewable energy to Fort Carson's energy portfolio. Outreach efforts to increase energy and water conservation efforts included growing a robust facility manager program and initiating courtesy energy audits of buildings.
These combined efforts helped move Fort Carson closer toward established Net Zero energy and water goals by yielding a 16 percent energy use intensity reduction (energy use per square foot of facility space) over the fiscal 2003 baseline and more than 31 percent water use intensity reduction (water use per square foot of facility space) over its fiscal 2007 baseline.
The cost savings from the efforts completed in fiscal 2014 will save the post an estimated $450,000 per year in energy and water costs.
Fort Carson new construction efforts and leadership continue to focus on renewable energy as a vision toward the future. Currently, more than 5 megawatts of photovoltaics are installed on Fort Carson, more than a dozen facilities have solar hot water systems, eight facilities operate off ground source heat pumps and three facilities have transpired solar walls which all contribute to Fort Carson's renewable energy portfolio.
One of the major projects highlighted in the award was the expansion of the installation's reclaimed water system to irrigate Iron Horse Park and sports fields, which is anticipated to save close to 90 percent of the annual irrigation water costs instead of using drinking water.
Ultimately, the desired outcome of the reclaimed water system expansion effort is to use 100 percent, roughly 200 million gallons, of Fort Carson's treated waste water for irrigation of priority turf areas during the watering season, which will eventually include Founders Field, Pershing Field and Gate 1.
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