DoD currently lacks a comprehensive approach for evaluating energy systems at the community scale that considers the integration of energy supply and demand to achieve optimized solutions for the entire community. The DoD installation planners address energy systems for new facilities and facilities undergoing renovation on an individual facility basis without consideration of energy sources, renewables, storage, or future generation needs.
Projects selected to begin in 2017 are now getting underway. We have several new projects under SERDP and ESTCP developing technologies for remediation of groundwater contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Five projects were initiated under SERDP to develop technologies for treatment of PFASs mixed with chlorinated solvents, and one ESTCP project is developing a treatment train approach.
The Resource Conservation and Resiliency program area is excited about an upcoming webinar on June 29th at 9 am PT/12 pm ET. The webinar is entitled “Future Vulnerabilities to Alaskan Ecosystems and Tools for Permafrost Assessment” and will feature two speakers, Mr. Kevin Bjella and Dr. Michelle Mack.
May is one of the busiest times of the year at the SERDP and ESTCP Office. We’ll spend much of this month at In Progress Review meetings for all of the Program Areas, while also moving forward in the review and selection of new SERDP and ESTCP projects for FY18.
The Report for SERDP’s Second Workshop on Burial and Mobility Modeling of Munitions in the Underwater Environment was released last month. This report summarizes discussion topics, results, and recommendations for future research that resulted from this informal workshop hosted by SERDP in December 2015.
The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) continues to demonstrate zirconium pretreatment technology as a replacement for existing aluminum and steel pretreatments at military depots. A third demonstration of the zirconium oxide technology, using PPG Industries X-BOND™ 4000 zirconium pretreatment, was carried out at Anniston Army Depot.
The Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) has successfully completed the demonstration of an innovative geothermal heat pump (GHP) system which includes underground thermal energy storage (UTES). This system generates higher energy savings with lower installation costs than conventional geothermal heat pump systems. Though this technology is widely used in Europe, this was the first installation in the U.S. and the ESTCP demonstration has helped validate the technology’s performance and savings for the U.S. market.
Wikipedia was launched in 2001 and has since become one of the ten most popular websites with 18 billion page views. The site aims to provide a neutral point of view and does not require any credentials, which can present challenges for technical topics. ESTCP and Solutions-IES, a division of DAA, have developed the ERWiki to communicate environmental restoration information to a variety of users in a timely and easily accessible fashion.
Dr. Kurt Preston, Program Manager for Resource Conservation and Resiliency, recently traveled to Spokane, Washington for the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association’s (NMFWA) 2017 DoD Natural Resources Annual Training Workshop. This annual training workshop, held in conjunction with the 82nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, provides military resource conservation professionals a venue to exchange new advances and cost saving best practices.
Two long-time friends of SERDP and ESTCP were recognized by the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council at their 2017 annual meeting in New Orleans last week. Dr. Charles Newell of GSI Environmental received an Industry Appreciation Award for his work with the ITRC Remediation Management of Complex Sites team.