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    Emergency Service Station: First in Army to go platinum

    Emergency Service Station: First in Army to go platinum

    Photo By Staff Sgt. Melissa Parrish | A fire truck of the Community Emergency Services Station (CESS), Linden Oaks, Fort...... read more read more

    FORT BRAGG, NC, UNITED STATES

    12.13.2012

    Story by Spc. Melissa Parrish 

    49th Public Affairs Detachment   

    U.S. Army Spc. Melissa C. Parrish
    49th Public Affairs Detachment (Airborne)

    FORT BRAGG N.C. – Fort Bragg, N.C., is home of the Airborne and Special Operations Forces and is also home to the most energy efficient building in the Army.

    Construction of the Community Emergency Services Station in Fort Bragg’s Linden Oaks community began in 2009 with energy efficiency as the main goal. The 8,295 square-foot facility includes a fire station, an emergency services station, police operation offices and several other community services.

    According to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a national green building certifying organization, the building is the only U.S. Army sustainable energy project to achieve a platinum certification, the highest certification level for new constructions.

    "Everything from the paint on the walls to the concrete on the floor is there to save money and the environment," said Fire Capt. Stephen Fox, captain of Fire Station Six located in the facility. "The facility has so many technologies built in to conserve energy – light sensors, lighting controls, a ground source heat pump, solar hot water and the list goes on."

    The station was awarded the Army’s first LEED Platinum certification in March for the many green technologies built into the facility.

    In order to receive platinum certification the building must be verified that it was designed using strategies aimed to achieve high performance in key areas. One area is water efficiency.

    For example, in order to conserve water at the facility, all showers and faucets have low-flow, high efficiency water fixtures, said Fox, who has been at the station since it was built. The CESS also has a rainwater collection system built into the building.

    "We are able to wash our fire trucks with water collected from the roof and that is a huge benefit to the installation," added Fox.

    But many of the technologies used in creating this facility aren't new.

    “What we are doing is using design knowledge that has been around for quite some time, in some cases thousands of years," said Thomas Blue, Fort Bragg’s energy manager.

    "Historically good designers would look at the orientation of the building," said Blue, explaining that the designers would determine a building’s location based on where the building would benefit from the sunlight and disturb as little of the environment as possible.

    The exact amount of money the efficiencies will save is still unknown. Blue and a research team are using the CESS to collect data and determine future benefits of green technologies.

    “The benefits of this project will be in the lifecycle of the facility,” said Blue. “We are hoping there will be less maintenance than in a conventional facility as well.”

    By applying old and new technologies, and placing added effort in the beginning stages of construction, the Army may be able to save money in the long run, added Blue.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 12.13.2012
    Date Posted: 12.18.2012 11:09
    Story ID: 99481
    Location: FORT BRAGG, NC, US

    Web Views: 366
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN