Page 389 - The Engineering Guide to LEED-New Construction Sustainable Construction for Engineers

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at the the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment which provides Air
Force leaders with the expertise on facilities management and construction. The Air
Force Water Conservation Program under the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency
addresses wastewater technologies and water use reduction.

Energy and Atmosphere
The prerequisites in the Energy and Atmosphere category are covered by federal,
DoD, and Air Force policy or MILCON specifications; however, some of the six credit
subcategories may be difficult or costly to achieve. Energy reduction and the related
LEED credit points are a high-priority goal for DoD, and targets are set by Air Force
policy. Guides such as the USAF Passive Solar Handbook (available from the Air
Force Center for Engineering and the Environment) encourage designs that promote
use of natural light to help reduce energy use. Certain sustainable strategies, such
as the use of many types of renewable energy and green power, are completely
dependent on availability and are currently not as likely to be attained on military
installations. However, many installations are looking into opportunities for future
energy self-sufficiency.
Credits for additional commissioning, measurement and verification, and ozone
depletion may be achievable, but first cost is an issue that must also be considered in the
budget cycles. The Air Force has implemented a process of life-cycle assessment (LCA)
for MILCON projects to evaluate issues such as these not only for first cost, but also
with consideration of what the return would be over the life of the facility.

Materials and Resources
The LEED section for Materials and Resources contains one prerequisite and eight
credit subcategories. In this area, some sustainable elements are standard practice in
the military, but others that would otherwise seem achievable may be hampered by
procurement regulations. The prerequisite for storage and collection of recyclables is a
given, as it has become common practice on military installations. The building reuse
credit depends on the project but is not common since many older facilities have
exceeded their design life and do not meet current military design requirements;
therefore, they would be too expensive to upgrade rather than replace. The credit for
construction waste management is covered by the Construction and Demolition (C&D)
Waste Management Guide (available from the Air Force Center for Engineering and the
Environment), and the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) is a
practical avenue to incorporate resource reuse.
What is most interesting in this section is that credits for recycled content, local and
regional materials, rapidly renewable materials, and certified wood all should be
achievable with proper planning and product selection, although the LEEDApplication
Guide for Lodging includes a disclaimer stating, “Government procurement regulations
may prohibit achievement of this credit because there may only be a single supplier for
the qualifying material.” Recent efforts at many military installations have helped ease
the procurement obstacles. An example is the Sustainable Interiors Showcase that
opened in 2007 at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, where procurement and design teams
collaborated to develop a grouping of interior finishes and furnishings which could be
easily purchased and used to attain many credits.