Because Saving Realized Energy Saves Lives:
A study between 2006-2009 estimated that 1 in 9 casualties in the war in Afghanistan occurred during refueling missions to forward operating bases. Since the results were published the US Navy has led a concerted effort to reduce energy use on forwarded operating bases as well as to generate more energy onsite. As part of that effort, our team was engaged to investigate the actual energy use at these bases and the conditions that impacted that use.
In 2012 we embedded an MKThink research team in a battalion of US Marines stationed at the Crow Valley air force base in the Philippines during a month-long bilateral military exercise. This team installed energy and environmental sensors across the base to quantify the energy use in each facility and relate it to base operations and weather conditions. We came away with the following key results and insights:
50% of energy use was wasted on cooling and lighting facilities that were unoccupied or did not need conditioning
Single-walled tents used 17% more energy to condition tents than double-walled tents
90% of double-walled tents did not use ventilation features effectively leading to an additional 7-12% energy consumption
Cooler tents often led to higher occupancy, which increased carbon dioxide levels 4-5x over acceptable limits