Defense Communities

The Magazine of MiliTary housing, lodging & lifesTyles

DefensecommunitiesJULY/AUGUST 2011 www.phma.com

Navigating the green marketplace page 9

Water-saving strategies page 13

The latest on zero-energy homes page 15

GROWINGGreen

Military housing professionals are finding more ways to conserve than ever before

and

CONTENTS

2 DefeNse COmmuNItIes

24 Operation Net Zero Privatization partners have a big role to play in helping Fort Bliss, Texas, achieve its vision of becoming a net zero installation. By Susan Adamson

9 Navigating the Green Marketplace Searching for the best green products and deciphering envi-ronmental claims, product labels, and industry regulations can be tricky. These tips will guide green product purchasing and help you balance benefits and costs while complying with military man-dates. By Dan Silk

13 Let the Savings Flow Heating water accounts for 14 to 25 percent of the total energy consumed in a typical home. But some simple alterations to domestic water heater systems can reduce energy loss and cut costs. By Matthew D. Conlan

15 When Less Is More The first zero-energy homes at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have been open for about a year. Take a look at the lessons these buildings—which pro-duce as much energy as they consume—can teach us about green design, sustainable living, and more. By David Brockman

20 Shedding Light on Savings The U.S. Department of State has made strides in ensuring that its more than 6 million square feet of domestic building space is as energy efficient as possible. Energy-efficient light-ing strategies are one important reason why. By Andy Wakefield

47

GREENSPECIAL ISSUE

24

41

july | auGust 2011 3

A Publication of the Pro fes sion al Hous ing Man age ment Association

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Publisher

Editor

Managing Editor

Contributing Editor

Editorial/Production Asst.

Art Director

Debra J. StrattonBirgitt SeymourLisa JunkerSally ZakariyaTeresa TobatJanelle Welch

Defense Communities magazine is designed to keep those who operate and manage the whole spectrum of military housing and facilities main-tenance informed on the industry’s latest technol-ogy, products, and services. It provides a forum for members to share lessons learned, news and events, and training opportunities and updates.

The Magazine of MiliTary housing, lodging & lifesTyles

DefensecommunitiesDefensecommunitiesJuly | August 2011 u Volume 22, Number 4 u www.phma.com

ABOUT THE COVER This month’s cover features art made from recycled cardboard and aluminum cans in honor of this special Green Issue of Defense Communities. Starting on page 9, you’ll find articles covering the many innovative ways military housing is going green.

Please send your articles for Defense Communities to

Birgitt Seymour at [email protected].

NEXT EDITORIAL DEADLINE:November/December: September 2

DEPARTMENTS

4 President’s Messagen PHMA President Del Eulberg visits Italy.

6 Chapter Newsn The Cabrillo Chapter plans its 12th annual cruise; the PHMA European Region holds its first-ever multi-chapter training in Italy.

51 Military Marketplacen Check out this go-to resource to find compa-nies that provide products and services to the mili-tary housing and lodging industry.

53 Advertising Index

54 PHMA Corporate Sustaining Members

32 Good as New If you think you know furniture refurbishing, think again. Today’s refurbishing techniques are clean and fast and offer significant sav-ings compared with the cost of replacement furniture—all while avoiding landfill waste. By Mario Insenga

36 Living Army Green At Fort Wainwright, Alaska, the North Haven partnership is con-tributing to the Army’s net zero sustainability goal by creating recycling programs, outfitting homes with energy-efficient appli-ances, and more. By Betsy Woolley

41 Fighting Waste on Home Soil Veterans have found ways to save energy and aid national security by choosing sustainable energy sources. By Ken Rahn

44 Every Drop Counts The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program recognizes products that meet strict water-efficiency and performance standards. Learn how you can take advantage of WaterSense to save water, energy, and money. By Brad Crozier

47 Heat at the Top of the World Discover how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, overcame the chal-lenges of arctic construction while updating the heating system at Greenland’s Thule Air Base with new, energy-efficient boilers. By JoAnne Castagna


Cabrillo Chapter Plans 12th Annual CruiseBy Joe N. Fitts

CHAPTER nEws

Continuing to travel the world by sea, the Cabrillo Chapter plans to trek to the Eastern Mediterranean in 2012, absent any unrest in the area. The pro-

posed itinerary calls for a fall 2012 departure to Italy sailing from Rome eastward with port calls at Ashdod and Haifa, Israel, plus Port Said and Alexandria, Egypt. Additional stops will be in Greece and Turkey. Highlights will include visits to Jerusalem and the Pyramids.

An alternate location would be Northern Europe along the North Sea and Baltic Sea during the summer, departing from the United States to the United Kingdom (London) or Copenhagen, sailing to ports of call at Stockholm, Sweden; Amsterdam, Holland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Hamburg, Germany; Helsinki, Finland; and Oslo, Norway.

At this time, exact details have not yet been finalized. Potential guests (PHMA members, family members, and friends) can anticipate a cruise of nine to 12 days

at a cost of $1,000 to $2,000 per person, not including air transportation from the United States to the initial country and city of departure and return. As in the past, optional side trips to other major cities in adjacent coun-tries will be included at an additional cost.

More information will be provided in the fall of 2011. In the meantime, the chapter’s annual cruise for 2011 to the Western Caribbean (Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama) set for October 22-30 is on track and in its final stages of planning, with limited space still available.

Interested persons should contact Joe Fitts at 760/845-7257 or 760/435-0701 or via email at joe.fitts@ sbcglobal.net. n

Joe N. Fitts is Housing Program Manager for Marine Corps Installation West at Camp Pendleton, California; Western Regional Director for PHMA; and President of the PHMA Cabrillo Chapter. Reach him at [email protected].

European Region Training Heads South of the Alps By Geert-Jan Hendriks

CHAPTER nEws

It was a great privilege and pleasure for me to welcome 110 students to the May 2011 European Region Multi-Chapter Training Meeting at Naples, Italy. Among the

attendees were PHMA President Del Eulberg, his wife Karen, and PHMA Executive Director Jon Moore. Training partici-pants came from Navy, Air Force, and Army installations throughout Europe.

The event was sponsored by the Naples Chapter. For the first time in the history of the European Region, an event was held south of the Alps, providing professional training oppor-tunities to our Italian colleagues and chapter members from the various European locations. Naples Chapter President Pietro Parillo and his team were fantastic hosts and made us feel most welcome in Bella Italia. I would like to thank Pietro, Ciro Dell’Annunziata, and Sandra Acri for their dedication and support for the European Region of PHMA.

After opening remarks in Italian and English and a short presentation of the new PHMA Naples Chapter banner to the chapter members, President Eulberg asked the students to share information obtained at the conference with those who could not attend. He further stated that keeping the work-force trained is integral to a successful housing program and that we must inform our housing leadership about the need for and benefits of professional training.

Training and ExplorationNavy CAPT (Ret.) Bruce L. Anderson, Acting Chief of Staff for Navy Region Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia, was our keynote speaker. He spoke about his housing experiences in his position as the Inspector General and Fleet and Family Readiness Director. He was on the regional quality of life team for many years and is therefore most familiar with both Unaccompanied and Accompanied Housing needs.

Formal training included eMH automation, furnishings, environmental, customer service, team building, and conflict

resolution presentations. For many Italian colleagues, the Italian-language Italian rental law class was the training high-light for them. They could not get enough and re-grouped after the closing ceremony for another two hours of training. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the profes-sional trainers and presenters for making the event a most memorable and beneficial experience.

The Naples training event was sponsored by New Star, ABC-Team, EUROBLIS, and New England Woodcraft. Our main sponsor, New Star, raffled a state-of-the-art laptop and donated $500 to the PHMA scholarship fund.

The selected training site in the heart of downtown Naples provided many opportunities for exploring historic sites and shops. Our Italian hosts had an extraordinary after-hours social program set up for us, including a fascinating “Napoli Sotterranea” (Naples Underground) tour sponsored by the Naples Chapter. An English-speaking guide took us 40 meters below street level to the remains of old Roman theaters and cisterns. Attendees also joined us for a fabulous evening in a lounge/disco restaurant and danced the night away.

This training would not have been possible without our housing leadership. I would like to thank them for their sup-port of the European Region of PHMA and for giving our colleagues that were not able to attend the CONUS seminars the opportunity to attend professional training.

Our next professional development workshop in FY13 will be hosted by the Crystal Chapter in the Regensburg, Germany, area. It will be my pleasure to once again welcome you to a European Region training event. n

Geert-Jan Hendriks is a staff member of IMCOM, Europe Region Public Works, Housing. He is also the Director, PHMA European Region. Reach him at [email protected].


Group excursion in downtown Naples after a day’s training.

JULY | AUGUST 2011 9

W hat’s green and what isn’t? How green is this product compared to that one? And how can

a housing manager know the differ-ence between green and not so green?

As federal agencies face increas-ing pressure to adopt more sustain-able practices, military housing and lodging professionals often need a deeper understanding of a product’s environmental performance. But navi-gating environmental claims, prod-uct labels, and industry regulations

can be challenging and cumbersome. And purchasers must also beware of “greenwashing”—misleading claims regarding environmental practices and product benefits.

In addition to meeting green pro-curement mandates, the military has been specifically challenged to find innovative solutions that effectively manage costs while still meeting the needs of good hygiene and cleanliness.

How do you determine which prod-ucts provide the best balance of ben-efits and cost savings to meet your

sustainability needs? Here are a few tips to help guide green purchasing decisions.

Remember the three RsMilitary professionals are constantly working to conserve natural resourc-es and lessen their environmen-tal impact in order to comply with Executive Order 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management. Signed by President George W. Bush in 2007 and expanded by President Barack

Navigating the Green MarketplaceHow to determine which products offer the greatest environmental

benefits to help meet your sustainability goals

By Dan Silk

GREENSPECIAL ISSUE

10 DefenSe CommUniTieS

Obama in 2009, the mandate requires fed-eral agencies to meet a number of targets, including 50 percent waste reduction and diversion by 2015.

One method that can help you com-ply with Executive Order 13423 is to

follow the three Rs suggested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

“Reduce” is strategy number one because the most effective approach to managing waste is to avoid creat-ing it in the first place. Implementing systems and products designed with source-reduction benefits contrib-utes directly to waste prevention in a number of ways. Waste is not creat-ed just when items are thrown away; it is also generated throughout the entire life cycle of a product, includ-ing the development, manufactur-ing, and transportation processes.

Choosing products that control dispensing and use less packaging, such as tissue with no inner wraps

The following resources are available to help educate professionals on green purchasing and guide the decision-making process:

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/index.htm

EcoLogo Program www.ecologo.org

Green Seal www.greenseal.org

The Sins of Greenwashing (TerraChoice) www.sinsofgreenwashing.org

Green by Design (Georgia-Pacific Professional) www.gppro.com/sustainability

Choosing products that use less cardboard,

such as coreless bathroom tissue,

helps reduce waste and

lessen overall environmental

impact.

and outer corrugates, means less waste is sent to landfills. Similarly, streamlining the variety of products you use and using products that are more versatile can also help reduce overall environmental impact.

As mandated under Executive Order 13423, federal agencies are also required to implement recy-cling programs to complement their waste-reduction efforts. For military housing and lodging facilities, this includes recycling common solid-waste items such as newspapers, cans, bottles, paper, cardboard, plas-tic, or metal materials. After collec-tion, recyclables are often sent to a materials-recovery facility where they are separated for sale to manu-facturers that use them to make recy-cled-content products designed to meet the green purchasing require-ments of the Executive Order.

Recyclables are bought and sold like any other commodity, and the market for recycled products con-tinues to grow due to the world’s increasing demand for recycled fiber. For example, GP Harmon, a busi-ness unit of Georgia-Pacific, trades in excess of 100,000 tons of recycled fiber per week. Such companies pro-vide recycled content for product manufacturing across the world by focusing on close relationships with suppliers and customers.

Understand seals and labelsIn addition to being perceived as environmentally preferable, prod-ucts may also be labeled with cer-tification seals from a third party or a manufacturer’s program. These seals can help you sift through the numerous green products available, but you should first have a thorough understanding of what they truly represent.

Environmentally focused nongov-ernmental organizations have grown in popularity over recent years. These third-party groups, such as EcoLogo, a division of UL Environment, offer manufacturers a certification pro-gram that includes manufacturing

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and recycling guidelines. For a fee, manufacturers can have their products stamped and certified if they meet cer-tain environmental impact guidelines.

Because of the recent rise in green-washing, seeking third-party certification has become an important criterion in purchasing decisions. In 2007, in an effort

to describe, understand, and quantify the growth of greenwashing, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, the agency that manages the EcoLogo program, launched a study called The Sins of Greenwashing that evaluated environmental claims for a variety of consumer and profes-sional products. The study emphasizes

the importance of sound science, hon-esty, and transparency in marketing green products—traits buyers should look for and inquire about when considering a purchase.

Some manufacturers have also developed educational resources to help organizations make purchas-ing decisions. For example, Georgia-Pacific Professional uses its Green by Design platform, a designation for products that follow the EPA’s Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle program. Green by Design products have pack-aging labels designating and measur-ing which of the EPA’s three Rs they support. Plus, the program’s website is a resource center for visitors who want to learn about the company’s environ-mental guidelines, recognitions, com-mitments, and achievements.

Choose trustworthy partnersEven if you understand the impor-tance of purchasing environmentally preferable products, evaluating and comparing them can still be a daunt-ing task. While third-party certifica-tion can be helpful in determining the environmental benefits of a product or service, the best way to determine if it matches the needs of a specific facil-ity is to seek advice from a trusted and respected distributor or manufacturer.

Regardless of a product’s certifi-cation or the claims its manufac-turer makes, it’s important to ask for and review the scientific background and documentation that measures the product’s environmental bene-fits. Third-party certifications, such as EPA’s Design for Environment, EcoLogo, and Green Seal, offer quick standard checks. Always remember, however, that integrity cannot be certi-fied so building trusting relationships with distributors or manufacturers will help to ensure that the products and systems you put in place to sup-port sustainability goals are, in fact, doing what you want them to do. n

Dan Silk is Vice President of Environmental Sustainability for Georgia-Pacific Professional. Reach him at [email protected].

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JULY | AUGUST 2011 13

Even small steps can make a difference in energy savings, and one such step is to take a look at the domestic hot water

heater.Utility costs in Army Family Housing

(AFH) account for only a small part of the more than $1.3 billion the U.S. Army spends on facility energy costs, but they still represent a large expen-diture of funds. The AFH community is incorporating energy efficiency into newer housing designs, but reducing energy use in existing units can require substantial renovation or upgrades and be cost- and time-prohibitive.

However, actions can be taken to reduce energy use in these older homes when replacement construction or major renovation is not feasible. An often overlooked area is the domestic hot water heating system. Water heat-ing accounts for 14 to 25 percent of the energy used in a typical home. Older water heating systems are a frequent source of wasted energy, but there are a number ways to reduce energy loss. Individually these are small steps, but

taken together they can have a sig-nificant impact on energy reduction efforts.

Better insulationUnless a water heater’s storage tank already has insulation with an R-value of at least R-24, adding insulation to the tank can reduce standby heat losses by 25 to 45 percent, resulting in typical savings of around 4 to 9 per-cent in water heating costs. Insulating water heater tanks is fairly simple and inexpensive and usually pays for itself within one year. Pre-cut jackets or blankets are commercially available for around $10 to $20 apiece. Blankets should have an insulating value of at least R-8.

For electric water heater tanks, con-sider placing a piece of rigid insu-lation—a bottom board—under the water heater tank to help prevent heat loss into the floor, saving another 4 to 9 percent of water heating ener-gy. However, this step is best accom-plished when replacing an old water heater.

Let the Savings Flow

Simple improvements to hot water heaters can result in big energy savings in family housing

By Matthew D. Conlan

GREENSPECIAL ISSUE

Insulating a water heater tank usually pays for itself within one year.


Insulating hot water pipes reduces heat loss, and insulated pipes can carry water that is 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than uninsulated pipes can deliver, allowing for a lower water temperature setting. The wait time for hot water to reach a faucet or showerhead is also reduced, helping to conserve water.

Insulating all accessible hot water pipes, especially within 3 feet of the water heater, is a great idea. It’s also a good idea to insulate the cold water inlet pipe for the first three feet from the water heater tank to reduce the loss of heat that migrates up the pipe from the water heater tank.

Lower temperatureSimply lowering the water heater ther-mostat setting can significantly reduce water heating costs. For each 10 degrees Fahrenheit reduction in water tempera-ture, between 3 and 5 percent in energy costs can be saved. Some manufacturers preset water heater thermostats at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, but most house-holds only require a 120-degree setting.

Reducing water temperature to 120 degrees slows mineral buildup and cor-rosion in water heaters and pipes, help-ing them to last longer and operate at maximum efficiency.

Lower-flow fixturesBefore 1992, some showerheads had flow rates of 5.5 gallons per minute and higher. Current federal regulations man-date that new showerhead flow rates cannot exceed 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) at a water pressure of 80 pounds per square inch (psi), and new faucet flow rates cannot exceed 2.5 gpm at 80 psi or 2.2 gpm at 60 psi.

Low-flow fixtures can save 25 to 60 percent in water use, which means less energy must be used to heat the water. For maximum efficiency, showerheads should have a flow rate of less than 2.5 gpm. Some showerheads are now avail-able with a 1.5 gpm flow rate, offering even more substantial savings.

The maximum flow rate for a faucet is ultimately determined by the faucet aer-ator. Aerators are inexpensive to replace, and they can be one of the most cost-

effective water conservation measures. For maximum water efficiency, aerators should have flow rates of no more than 1 gpm. Some aerators come with shut-off valves that can stop the flow of water without affecting the temperature—a pause function, so to speak.

As a good steward of its resources, the Army must constantly seek ways to cut costs without affecting services. The Army needs to find ways to employ its resources most efficiently and effec-tively to support soldiers and their fami-lies. These relatively simple changes to plumbing systems are helpful steps to accomplishing that goal. n

Matthew D. Conlan is a Housing Management Specialist, Strategic Planning and Construction Branch, Army Housing Division, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. Reach him at [email protected]. Adapted by permission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from an article in the March/April 2010 Public Works Digest.

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