Page 387 - The Engineering Guide to LEED-New Construction Sustainable Construction for Engineers

348 Cha pte r Ni ne

Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence
The U.S. Air Force programs and budgets for MILCON requirements go through the
Office of the Civil Engineer. Field agencies within this office include the Air Force Civil
Engineer Support Agency (AFCESA), which establishes construction standards and
design criteria, and the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE), which
provides technical support and guidance. Although it is the smallest facility owner of
the military services, the Air Force still maintains a sizable MILCON budget; however,
execution of Air Force MILCON projects is divided between USACE and NAVFAC (the
Air Force does not staff its own construction agent). The Air Force was the first
department within the DoD to adopt the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED
green building rating system as the standard for measuring sustainable development
and construction. The Sustainable Development Policy was issued by a memorandum
from the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Civil Engineer Deputy Chief of Staff for Installations
and Logistics in December 2001. The goals set forth in this memo were to achieve
20 percent of Air Force MILCON projects selected as LEED pilots by FY04 and all
projects to become LEED certified by FY09. The Air Force, through AFCEE, has also
published a number of guides to assist project teams with developing specific action plans
to incorporate LEED guidance into their design and construction planning. From the
beginning, the Air Force has supported LEED and continues to develop and publish
tools to aid in implementation of sustainable development.

9.3 LEED Application Guide for Lodging
Lodging facilities for soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are referred to as barracks,
dormitories, or bachelor quarters on military installations. Barracks projects make up a
large percentage of military construction projects, as the military forces grow and troops
are relocated from one installation to another, and in recent years are part of major
recapitalization programs to replace older facilities dating back to the World War II era
or older. The quality and design of barracks have a vital role in the health, welfare, and
morale of the service members who call them home; therefore, sustainable design
contributes benefits not only to the global environment but also to the local living
environment for men and women in uniform.
The most common design for barracks facilities is a three- or four-story building or
grouping of these buildings in a “campus” area. Since LEED-NC 2.2 was primarily
developed for new and renovated commercial buildings and general office facilities,
different challenges are encountered, particularly in achieving energy efficiency and
indoor environmental quality, for low-rise residential buildings (less than four stories)
which are designed for continuous occupancy. To provide guidance and promote
sustainable construction for barracks facilities, AFCEE worked with the USGBC to
develop and publish Application Guide for Lodging Using the LEED Green Building Rating
System. This publication was prepared by Paladino and Company, Inc., in 2001 and is
more commonly referred to as the LEEDApplication Guide for Lodging. The intent of
this guide is to provide interpretation of LEEDcredits in application to low-rise, lodging
building projects and specific to Air Force dormitory construction, although it also
allows for generic application on other similar facilities.
The LEEDApplication Guide for Lodging addresses each of the six LEEDcategories:
Sustainable Sites (SS), Water Efficiency (WE), Energy and Atmosphere (EA), Materials
and Resources (MR), Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), and Innovation in Design (ID).