Marine Corps Air Station Miramar was presented Wednesday with the 2015 EPA Federal Green Challenge Award for energy, becoming the federal facility with the greatest percentage reduction in energy use in the nation.
MCAS Miramar did it by building a new aircraft hangar which brought a natural gas system to the installation and eliminated the old diesel fuel system. The change cut base fuel consumption by 98 percent in 2014.
Base leadership say they are moving toward energy independence within the next four years by building a micro-grid that can power the entire flight line with a combination of large scale, onsite renewables and conventional generation.
Brigadier Gen. Edward Banta, MCAS Miramar Commanding Officer Col. John Farnam, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy spent part of the day at the base’s state-of-the-art green facilities, including a new zinc bromide flow battery for renewable energy storage to support energy security and cost savings through peak load reduction.
MCAS Miramar occupies 23,000 acres in San Diego, home to approximately 10,000 service members and their families. Located about 15 miles north of downtown, most of the land is rugged and used for training exercises.
The Federal Green Challenge is a national effort challenging federal agencies to reduce the government's environmental impacts in six target areas: energy, water, waste, electronics, purchasing and transportation. The base had the greatest percentage reduction in energy use of over 400 Federal Green Challenge participants nationally.
