The military has gone green with energy- and water-efficiency goals so aggressive that they'd make any environmentalist go, well, green with envy.

Officials at the Pentagon and local Marine bases said becoming more energy- and water-efficient, and eventually self-sustaining, is a national security imperative that can lead to fewer battlefield deaths, even as it saves taxpayers money and reduces carbon emissions.

As a result, the Navy has set aggressive new efficiency goals. Local bases have complied by relying more on recycled water, adding solar generation and designing new buildings to use significantly less electricity. At the Pentagon, fuel-efficient transports and weapons systems are coming off the drawing boards.

But the military has a lot of work to do.

The Department of Defense is the single-largest consumer of oil in the United States, with 1.7 percent of the American total, a 2009 report from Deloitte Development LLC stated. In 2008, it spent $16 billion on petroleum fuels used to power generators, jets, cars and ships. It consumed 1 million barrels of oil every three days.

The Navy, which encompasses the Marine Corps, consumes about one-third of that total.

Moving fuel made up 50 percent of all the tonnage sent to war zones. Transporting fuel from depots to far-flung encampments required long convoys that made inviting targets for insurgent attacks in the form of roadside improvised explosive devices, which accounted for half of American deaths in Afghanistan in 2009.

"It used to be that the most dangerous job in the military was infantry," Maj. Gen. Anthony Jackson, commander of Marine Installations West, said at a recent event. "In Iraq, it was truck driver."

But the danger of relying on fragile energy supply lines only begins at the battle front. In an age in which pilots based in Nevada can fly drone attacks in Iraq or Afghanistan, improving energy security means making domestic bases more efficient and, if possible, self-sufficient.

"Look at a base: If it doesn't rely on external fuels, if it's completely renewable, it's less vulnerable to having that supply cut off, as well. It makes it easier for them to support people who are forward," said Capt. Brian Block, a spokesman for the Marine Corps at the Pentagon.

Striving for self-support

To cope with the forward supply problem, Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway established a command in Virginia to experiment with new technologies to make troops in the field more self-supporting.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus raised the bar for the Navy and the Marines when he outlined aggressive new energy goals at a speech in October:

-- All new building contracts will have to consider energy usage and efficiency as part of their overall costs.

-- By 2020, half of all shore-based energy needs will come from renewable energy.

-- By 2020, half of all Navy installations will be "energy net zero," meaning the amount of energy they consume will be balanced out by other energy generation means.

-- By 2020, 50 percent of all fuel used by cars, ships and aircraft will come from alternative sources.

-- And by 2016, the Navy will launch the "Great Green Fleet," a squadron of ships powered by nuclear plants, or hybrid electric-biofuel engines.

Those goals dwarf most set by local governments, including in ever-green California, where the three investor-owned utilities will barely meet the state's goal of buying 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources this year, and are only aiming for a 33 percent mix by 2020.

Local bases have been reaching for these goals for at least the last decade, but an influx of recent cash has made it easier.

The "Grow the Force" initiative, combined with an urgent need to replace 60-year-old buildings, has driven the Marines to initiate a $2 billion construction and renovation plan at Camp Pendleton, and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station is also in the process of putting up new buildings and replacing old ones.

That will make it far easier to accomplish new energy- and water-efficiency goals.

"Oh yes, the timing is very good," said Randy Monohan, energy manager for Miramar.

Water recycled at Miramar

Miramar is a three-time winner of the secretary of the Navy's energy efficiency award, and it has won awards for its water conservation measures. The base has pioneered the use of dual-pipe in its buildings, which are designed to take recycled water from the North City Water Reclamation Plant and use it for toilets, lessening the load on potable water sources.

The Marines have installed hundreds of solar-powered parking lights, and they're installing solar panels on car ports throughout the base.

At Camp Pendleton, the effect of the new contracting standards will be keenly felt by builders desperate to get a piece of the government pie. In addition to Mabus' goals, the federal government has mandated that all new buildings at least meet the "silver" level of efficiency standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Marines are emphasizing energy efficiency as the best way to get there.

There are plans at Camp Pendleton to recycle all of the wastewater coming out of the southern portion of the base, Jeremy Jungreis, director of the Pendleton Office of Water Resources, said in an e-mail.

The base is also using solar heaters to warm its four pools, and officials just awarded a contract to build a 1.48-megawatt solar power plant on base, said Melanie Chavarria, program manager for photovoltaics at Pendleton.

Rear Adm. Bill French, commander of Navy Region Southwest, said at a recent event that water conservation measures allowed the Southwest region to save 400,000 gallons of water in 2009 compared to 2008, and a billion gallons compared to 2000.

"Navy Southwest has been out in front of the Navy when it comes to energy, water, recycling, sustainability," he said.

All of these moves will help secure the base for its future missions.

"If at some time, if we had enough on-site power to become energy independent, it would definitely be an advantage to us," Monohan said. "If there was a blackout in San Diego, and an installation had these internal power sources, we could continue our mission."

Navy as a test bed

But the Navy also believes it can be a test bed for less-proven technologies that have yet to reach general use.

"We're a good place to test out technologies for renewable energy, to prove them for practical use, not only be useful for DOD's use, but (also) for the commercial market," said Joe Sikes, director of facilities energy for the Navy.

He cited as one example a kind of nanotechnology-based solar collector that can't find big-time investors, but shows enough promise that the Navy will give it a try at one of its eastern bases. Block, the Marines' spokesman, said they're testing a solar panel that can be rolled up and carried by a Marine into the field to provide power for long-range radios. Jackson discussed a spray that could improve the insulating qualities of tents.

But any technology the military implements, no matter how efficient, cannot compromise the mission in any way. Monohan at Miramar emphasized that the mechanisms for water and energy savings have to make life better, never worse, for the men and women who serve.

A case in point, he said the bachelor enlisted quarters on the base have recently been converted to a tankless hot water system that heats water on demand for showers or cleaning, rather than keeping unused water hot for hours just in case someone needs it. Not only does it dramatically reduce the amount of natural gas they use, but an endless flow of hot water has also improved morale, if only a little.

"It makes people happy," Monohan said. "As long as it doesn't negatively affect the mission, or impact the workspace, people love it. We see the big difference; it's behavior change."

In the long run, it may be that very change in behavior that becomes the military's longest lasting impact on improving energy security. As a matter of training, the Marines, and all branches of the armed services, instill a set of values, and now those values include energy-use reduction and environmental responsibility.

As Monohan said, "Use what you need, save the rest."

Call staff writer Eric Wolff at 760-740-5412.