The Pentagon was built during the early years of World War II and is still thought of as one of the most efficient office buildings in the world.  Despite 17.5 miles of corridors, it takes only seven minutes to walk between any two points in the building.

In 2010, the Pentagon began a pilot test of a new entryway mat made by EcoPath™ at one of their main entrances….

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When you’re tasked with protecting one of America’s most treasured natural resources, you can’t help but feel a tremendous responsibility. Grand Canyon Environmental Protection Specialist Deirdre Hanners is reminded of the importance of her task each day when she enters the park and takes in the awe-inspiring views of the Canyon.

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For the 20 people who work in Ft. Lee’s Building 11108, it’s comforting that the cabinets throughout the building emit no formaldehyde.  Building 11108 is the new home of the Army’s 262nd Quartermaster Battalion. The 15,000-square-feet one-story building has about 25 cabinet units scattered through seven locations in the facility. All of these cabinets are constructed with PureBond® hardwood plywood made with a soy-based formaldehyde-free adhesive from Columbia Forest Products (CFP).

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Absorbents, Paint Strippers, Cleaners and more help military bases win awards.

Air Force Rolls Out Soy-Backed Carpet

The U.S. Air Force, which operates one of the largest lodging operations in the world, began using carpet made with soy-based backing in 2009.  Designated under the federal BioPreferredSM program, biobased carpets are now used throughout Air Force lodging facilities. The Air Force has lodging operations at 93 bases worldwide with more than 31,000 bed spaces. By 2010, the Air Force had installed the soy-backed carpet in about ten percent (or 3,000) of those rooms. The carpet in these facilities is upgraded every six years, and every time that happens, the plan is to install soy-backed carpet.

The soy-backing product, manufactured by Universal Textile Technologies (UTT), replaces more than 90 percent of the petroleum-based polymers in its polyurethane formula with biobased polymers derived from domestically grown soybeans.

Soy-Based Spray Foam Insulation Helps with Base Greening/LEED Certification

Spray polyurethane foam, that integrates soy as a replacement for a portion of the petroleum, insulates the Fairfax Village Neighborhood Center at Fort Belvoir Army Base in Virginia.

Fort Belvoir Army Base in Fairfax County, Virginia accomplished what no other military base in the country had achieved by mid-2010 — attain the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification for new construction. According to Tom Boylan, Development Associate with Clark Realty Capital, LLC, the base’s green building initiative includes the use of spray foam insulation that incorporates soy and is manufactured by BioBased Technologies. They selected the soy insulation because of its environmental attributes and because it contributed to LEED certification.

Under the U.S. Army’s Residential Communities Initiative, Clark Pinnacle (a joint venture between Clark Realty and Pinnacle) and the Department of the Army formed a 50- year public-private partnership to develop, rehabilitate and construct 2,070 homes on 576 acres of U.S. Army Garrison Fort Belvoir. The project includes 2,070 homes in 12 villages and five neighborhood centers, three of which were built by spring 2010. These neighborhood centers are used by residents for large gatherings, parties, and meetings and also include some office space. The Fairfax Village Neighborhood Center, that will also serve as an education center for the “green” building efforts underway on base, was insulated with spray polyurethane foam insulation that integrates soy as a replacement for a portion of the petroleum. A display in the Center explains the sustainability benefits of the insulation to visitors. This building is the first new construction military facility to achieve LEED Platinum.

The LEED Green Building Rating System™ was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) www.usgbc.org. This internationally recognized green building certification system provides third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using environmentally sound strategies. LEED ratings are based on energy savings; water efficiency; CO2 emissions reduction; improved indoor environmental quality; and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

More information about these efforts at Fort Belvoir can be found at: www.greenbelvoir.com. Fort Carson, a United States Army installation located south of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, completed the renovation of a 5,000-square foot medical clinic in the summer of 2009. General Contractor John J. Kirlin Special Projects, LLC installed spray foam insulation that incorporates soy in all exterior walls and in the ceiling. According to Senior Project Manager Tobin Allen, using the soy-based product helped in achieving LEED certification. In addition, because a closed cell version of the spray foam insulation was used, it reduced the thickness required to achieve a higher R value (the higher the number, the better the insulation’s effectiveness).

Soy-Based Transformer Coolant Biodegrades Quickly

The huge rusting radiators of the 16 transformers at the Lamberts Point Deperming Station were replaced with new stainless steel ones. A total of 6,000 gallons of mineral oil was removed and replaced with biobased Envirotemp® FR3® transformer coolant fluid.

Dozens of U.S. military facilities have switched to or installed new equipment that comes with a biobased transformer coolant fluid-Envirotemp® FR3®. The world’s largest naval station — Naval Station Norfolk — is one such facility that has switched to the product made from soybean oil because it is better for the environment. Because the Station is located on a peninsula and its transformers are located on a waterway, personnel were concerned about the environmental impact if a transformer should leak. As a result, they sought a solution that would not harm marine life. Because FR3 fluid is soy-based and does not contain petroleum hydrocarbons, silicones or halogens, it typically biodegrades quickly in case of leak or spill. Tests show that FR3 fluid is 99 percent degraded in 21 days when tested per an Environmental Protection Agency method. In comparison, mineral oil is only 25 percent degraded in 21 days. In addition, the biobased fluid is considered non-toxic when evaluated by multiple standard test methods.

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Michigan’s Hiawatha National Forest:
Soy Biobased Demonstration Shows Performance and Reliability for Greener Equipment, Cleaning and More

Biobased Products Help Protect Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1997 and the question arose about what could be done to protect America’s first national park for the next 125 years. The use of biodiesel fuel and other environmental activities laid an excellent foundation for an overarching effort that is now called “The Greening of Yellowstone.”

Environmental Protection Specialist Jim Evanoff takes his job seriously. “When you work at Yellowstone National Park, it is incumbent upon you to do everything you can to be innovative in protecting the Park’s sensitive environment,” he says. Evanoff and the Park’s best known efforts regarding biobased products center on their early use of biodiesel. In addition, they are early adopters and proactive advocates for a number of other products including:

• Using only biobased cleaning/janitorial products—over 700 gallons in 2007.
• Biobased hydraulic fluids are used in many applications throughout its extensive fleet of vehicles.
• Using biobased two-stroke lubricating oils in chain saws, lawn mowers and other equipment.
• All of the Park-owned diesel engines, ranging from trucks to generators to snow trail groomers, are powered by B20 (20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent diesel). The Park’s use of B20 displaces more than 25,000 gallons of petroleum diesel every year. Annually, it also prevents more than 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering into Yellowstone’s atmosphere.
• Concessions operations in Yellowstone use only biodiesel blends in all diesel applications as well as print with soy ink.
• Biodiesel is available to the public at four pumps in three states (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) that straddle Yellowstone’s ecosystem to aid tourists in protecting the Park.

Jim Evanoff’s pickup led the way for biobased products beginning in 1995 when he started using B100 biodiesel fuel. Now, nearly 200,000 miles later the pickup is still going strong and Jim is leading the way by introducing other biobased products into use at the Park.

During a conversation with Evanoff, it usually returns to his favorite topic, biodiesel. That’s only natural because each year, as he explains it, the Park has more than three million visitors and virtually every one of them arrives by automobile or bus. Beyond that, Yellowstone itself has a fleet of more than 700 vehicles. It is no wonder that Jim’s first environmental concern centers around vehicular transportation, and biodiesel fuel, in particular.

“I first became aware of biodiesel in 1995 through a proposed demonstration project with the University of Idaho, State of Montana, the Department of Energy and a myriad of private entities” he explains. “It just seemed like something we should investigate and try.”

Out of that early interest grew Jim’s idea to run the now famous diesel pickup truck on B100 (100% biodiesel). As an integral part of the project, Dodge Truck, Inc. donated the new truck. In 2008, Jim continues to operate the truck that currently has 195,000 miles and still uses B100 all year round in sometimes harsh weather/temperature conditions. The truck became a symbol for the use of biodiesel not only in Yellowstone, but also in other facilities as Jim spread the biodiesel/ biobased message. “Over the years I’ve given dozens of presentations on the environmental advantages of using biodiesel, not only in the Park system but to other entities as well,” he says.

Jim still enjoys telling the story about one of the beneficial effects of biodieselthe elimination of the well known diesel fuel exhaust odor. When operated on B100, vehicles produce a fume aroma that smells much like that of cooking French fries. “There became concern that this smell might attract some of the park’s grizzly bears. To ensure that the truck was not a bear attractant, it was driven to Washington State University where tests were conducted with captive bears that were being used for research. Eventually it was concluded that the bears exhibited minimal attraction to the exhaust fumes,” he says.

Also, the Park has revived an old tradition from the 1930s and 40s – a renovated fleet of famous 16-passenger “old yellow buses” that moves visitors on winding and narrow roads to major attractions throughout the Park. Additionally, six replicas of the old buses are powered by biodiesel. These replicas can be converted from wheels to tracks so they can be operated during the winter season. The seven original old yellow buses that have been restored are powered by an ethanol-blended fuel. “These buses have several purposes,” explains Jim. “They reduce congestion and obviously cut down fuel consumption and exhaust fumes, but they also are a way of bringing biobased fuel to the attention of visitors.

“We have the world’s largest concentration of geo-thermal features, and they present a unique environmental challenge. Just think, during the summer 10,000 tourists a day, most of them driving their own automobiles, visit Old Faithful alone. As stewards of the world’s first national park, we continually strive do everything possible to preserve and protect all of the natural resources we have here at Yellowstone.”