On this blog we talk a lot about how different industries and businesses can save a piece of the earth while they save a piece of the planet, but as many of you know we have a far reach, and deal with a large number of academic and military institutions as well as private businesses. The driving motivations may not be the same across the board, but the results, in terms of costs saved and environmental benefits, are the same across the board.
Take for example, the Naval Air Station in Ft. Worth, TX. Officials here have been working hard to go green by reducing energy and water, and reviewing alternate energy source. By using energy sources that are not oil, there is the obvious freedom from Middle East resources and the military results of such reliance. And money saved can be spent elsewhere: such as training, ammunition, and war-readiness across the base. As the base commander, Captain T.D. Smyers explained in an interview: “Energy and how we generate and use it, is of major consequence to the sustainability of our war-fighting readiness.”
Since 2003 the base has cut its energy consumption by 14 percent per square foot, way above the cuts required by the Defense Department. But the base seems keen to keep ahead and officials are looking at less conventional and less obvious ways to save, including the construction of a solar panel and a centralized heating and A/C control system.
This just shows that there are always ways to cut and ways to innovate in order to improve your business, its processes, and its reliance on the money and environmental commitments you may have today. Responsible spending is an effort that extends beyond just money. The diligence that we are seeing from the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth should serve as an example of how the importance of responsible energy spending holds just as much weight as those in dollars and cents. Much like businesses in other sectors, our government branches have a responsibility to withhold. The main difference here is that the effect of its bottom line and the savings that it sees extends far beyond just its balance sheets to support one of the most precious gifts that we have as Americans– the security of our nation.
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