How two Georgia military bases adapted to become climate and clean energy leaders
The consequences of a changing climate have already touched every inch of the planet in some form or another: extreme heat events, stronger hurricanes and typhoons, rising sea levels, flood events, drought, and melting glaciers have garnered the attention of the U.S. military and the Department of Defense – because all these threaten the stability of their mission.
This notion was not so well understood or acknowledged 30 years ago, according to Sherri Goodman, who held the first undersecretary of defense (environmental security) position in 1993. Today, military bases around the U.S. are imploring climate readiness thanks in part to Goodman and other federal regulations over the last decade.
The strides made in environmental awareness have come far enough that a military base in Georgia has reached the point of net-zero carbon emissions.
The ‘90s to today
Goodman understood the military’s objective in 1997, stemming from events like the Kyoto Protocol, was to limit emissions and address climate change. But “we didn’t know how to get there,” she said in her book, “Threat Multiplier: climate, military leadership, and the fight for global security.”
“Over the past four decades, the military has moved from reluctant compliance with what were often viewed as burdensome environmental laws to an awareness that environmental protection improves military operations and contributes to a healthy quality life for military service members and their families,” Goodman wrote in her book.
Goodman was tasked with reducing emissions and regulating environmental pollution. In 2000, EPA Administrator Carol Browner recognized her efforts, saying Goodman helped lower the greenhouse gas emissions of the DOD (which contributed 72% of the U.S. government’s emissions) by 26% while still improving military capability.
“Under her leadership, DOD has initiated a program to understand how climate change will affect future military operations,” Browner said at an award ceremony in 2000.
During the early aughts, Goodman was a key player in the work of the Center for Naval Analysis Military Advisory Board. She, alongside four-star generals and climate scientists, convened to discuss how climate change is a security threat. It was there she came up with the term “threat multiplier.”
She called it a “threat multiplier” because “it makes every fragile state more vulnerable and every conflict more dangerous,” she wrote in her book.
In 2012, Superstorm Sandy shocked the Coast Guard in New York City and they couldn’t operate without power and destroyed piers.
“We could not execute our duties the way we normally could,” Rear Admiral Ann Phillips of the U.S. The Navy said in“Threat Multiplier.” The Coast Guard station was devastated by the storm.
“Today, the challenge is not only to preserve the natural environment within the base but also to ensure that its operations are contributing as little as possible to climate change–while preparing for the next Superstorm Sandy or whatever event the warming world throws our way,” Goodman wrote.
A 2023 DOD emissions report said 63% of the department’s emissions were from operational sources, while the other 37% came from providing power to bases and other military installations.
Installation bases across the U.S. are willfully adapting, and have been for about two decades.
The Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany and the Fort Moore Maneuver Center of Excellence in Columbus are two of the bases meeting and exceeding the DOD’s push for adaptation, mitigation and resilience when it comes to climate change.
Georgia home to first net-zero military base
MCLB saw an opportunity to save on energy costs 20 years ago, starting eight energy conservation measures that ranged from geothermal heat pumps to lighting upgrades
From 2003 to 2016, there were several energy contract negotiations that helped power a base that uses between four and eight megawatts of energy (depending on the season). Four to eight megawatts is relatively low in comparison to Fort Moore’s 26 million square foot base, which requires 70 megawatts of power.
In 2005, the 3,000-person logistics base developed an energy program, and in 2009 that program incorporated energy conservation and renewable energy.
“This was prior to the Secretary of Navy’s 2010 Net Zero goal,” base officials told the Ledger-Enquirer via email.
The goal was for 50% of all shore-based energy needs to be met using alternative sources and be net zero by 2020.
After a third energy contract negotiation in 2016, it was apparent that an energy goal of net zero was within reach at MCLB Albany. The contract came at a cost of $170 million for a 23-year lifespan. This included two years for construction and 21 years for performance, according to the MCLB press release.
When Hurricane Michael blew through in 2017, it caused damage to the local power grid, according to base officials, but the base was able to operate for a week in island mode, where the base was disconnected from Georgia Power and relied on its own renewable energy sources.
In May 2022, the MCLB Albany became the first installation in the DOD to achieve electrical net zero. “The energy portfolio consists of solar, geothermal, landfill gas, heat recovery steam, and biomass steam,” base officials said.
But environmental scientists and energy experts are careful to call biomass “clean energy.” Additionally, landfill gas still pollutes “some methane,” according to the EPA.
Meredith Berger is the assistant secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment, and the chief sustainability officer. In October, Berger told a group of panelists at a Council of Foreign Relations event how significant the net-zero achievement at MCLB Albany is for the DOD.
“This is the first net-zero energy base in the DOD,” she said at the event. “This is a pride point for the Marine Corps and for the Navy. The space is generating more energy than it requires. So when we see that there needs to be a surge of support, energy is not a factor in that response rate.”
MCLB was not impacted by Hurricane Helene this past September, according to base officials.
How does Fort Moore compare?
Four years after the DOD released a Climate Adaptation Plan in 2014, acting as a road map to adapt to climate change and reduce its impact on military operations at bases, Fort Moore (then Fort Benning) began implementing its own measures of resilience.
“Since the 1990s, the Department of Defense has gone from an environmental lager to an environmental clean energy leader, and the Climate Adaptation Plan is a stop on that route,” Goodman told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Fort Moore constructed a 9.75-megawatt micro-grid on the installation powered by natural gas, delivering 20% of the energy needs for the 50,000-person base, one of the nation’s largest military bases.
“We’re supposed to be self-sufficient for a certain amount of time in case of something occurring in the surrounding area, affecting the grid, we have to be able to operate and function,” Damian Haye, energy manager at Fort Moore, told the Ledger-Enquirer in the fall of 2023.
Geoffrey Ray, Fort Moore’s Energy and Utilities Branch chief and Haye’s boss, said in a more recent interview that “our installation is forward thinking in terms of planning and resiliency. It’s all about reducing reliance on outside forces. If we were to lose water, natural gas, or electrical capabilities we want to be able to island ourselves for 14 days.”
“It’s always about the mission, not emissions,” Goodman said.
Ray said the mission always comes first, and climate-positive power is an added benefit. The current microgrid comes as a cost savings of $1.2 million, according to Ray.
In March this year, Fort Moore was one of several bases that conducted a black start exercise, where the base shut off power for eight hours.
“We were very successful, probably the top five installations in terms of the amount of facility impact; our critical assets were tested in accordance with the microgrid,” Ray said.
Fort Moore converted 80% of its lighting to LED, creating a cost saving of $1.57 million per year, according to a 2019 press release.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in Dec. 2021, requiring all government operations to reduce emissions and create climate resilient infrastructure within the next 30 years.
“This executive order is the biggest driver I’ve seen in terms of energy initiatives,” Ray said.
Over the next five to 10 years, Ray’s team hopes to add to the other 80% of the microgrid through various clean energy sources like solar. There is a 30 megawatt solar array across the river in Alabama that the base currently uses. There is potential to add 15 megawatts of solar with negotiations with Georgia Power and 5 megawatts of battery storage near that substation in Alabama, he said.
Fort Moore also has plans to use an anaerobic digester, which would convert landfill gas emissions into energy, rather than using natural gas pumped from pipelines (which the 2018 microgrid currently uses). The feasibility study for the anaerobic digester is due Nov. 15.
All of these are part of Biden’s 2021 executive order that include achieving 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030, and net-zero building emissions by 2045.
Fort Moore is currently 38% carbon-free in electricity generation, according to Haye.
The third of many targets is making all new vehicle acquisitions zero-emission by 2035, including all light-duty acquisitions by 2027.
“We are leading the Army in terms of electric vehicle deployment,” Ray said. “We are kicking butt. We’ve cracked the code on how to program and develop infrastructure to support electric vehicles. There are 180 light duty vehicles, that is 10% of the Army’s vehicle fleet here on the installation.”
Fort Moore started EV charging in 2014, Haye said last year. There are over 30 dual-port solar chargers, 23 dual part level 2 chargers, and dozens more in contract for construction.
“The department (DOD) is making good progress towards goals and requirements, but the trajectory of the funding to meet those goals will depends a lot on what happens in the (presidential) election,” Goodman said.
This story was originally published October 31, 2024 at 1:00 AM.
