 Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Carol Werner. I'm the Executive Director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute and a member of the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition, which is so proud to be sponsoring the Technology Expo and Policy Forum with the Congressional Renewable and Energy Efficiency Caucus and several other congressional caucuses. There are a number of bipartisan caucuses that have joined together that are concerned with regard to green schools, high performance buildings, energy service performance contracting, as well as energy environment overall and the whole role of renewable and energy efficiency technologies, and their important role in terms of environmental protection, in terms of sound energy policy, addressing security, addressing global competitiveness issues, and in terms of making a healthier, cleaner, and more vibrant economy overall for all of us. So we are so pleased to launch this afternoon's session with our opening speaker, who is Kathy Ossing, who is the Director of Planning for the U.S. Army Energy Initiatives Task Force. The U.S. Army has been doing a lot of very interesting cutting-edge work in terms of really incorporating a new look at energy, really improving the efficiency of installations, as well as really embracing the whole role of renewables. So I am very very pleased to have Kathy join us this afternoon to tell us about that some of the initiatives underway through this special task force. Kathy? Thank you, Carol. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to tell you about the Army's long-standing commitment to sustainable energy and national defense. Today, the Department of Defense is facing multiple threats, as well as many nontraditional challenges, all of which jeopardize our future security environment. The Army's ability to accomplish our mission on a global scale depends on secure and interrupted access to power and energy. With today's volatile energy market, the long-standing assumption that the Army will have unlimited availability to fossil fuels is no longer valid for us, the Army. And we must become more flexible and adaptable in obtaining the necessary energy supplies. One key element of improving our energy security is to change our doctrine, our material solutions, our policies, as well as our procurement decisions. To modify the way we use energy while increasing our mission capabilities, improving our energy security also requires us to improve our energy efficiency. The Army is working to leverage existing third-party private sector procurement and acquisition authorities in order to accelerate the efficiency projects. These projects replace inefficient physical plans with highly efficient technologies that reduce our energy consumption, improve our energy security, and reduce our costs. To date, the Army has spent over one and a half billion in energy savings performance contracts and utility energy service contracts. On December 2011, the President directed the federal government to execute $2 billion of contracts over the next two years. I'm happy to say the Army is on track to exceed our target of $384 million. Traditionally, the Army has used performance contracting to improve the energy efficiency and performance of its existing facilities. However, we are also able to use performance contracts to build new renewable energy projects. In January, we opened a four and a half megawatt photovoltaic array in White Sands, Missile Range, and New Mexico. And that was done through an energy performance savings contract. Furthermore, in conjunction with partners like SolarCity, we are able to install solar panels on our residential homes in areas such as Hawaii, Texas, as well as New Mexico. Due to the need for expansive maneuver areas, our Army installations are typically isolated and at the end of utility lines. So by consolidating renewable energy projects, the Army increases its energy security, reduces our vulnerability during energy power outages, as well as reduces and stabilizes our utility bills that are increasing much faster than our inflation rates. The Army's goal is to have 25% of our power requirements generated by renewable energy by 2025, and very importantly to have that power consumed on our installations. The Army is on track to meet this goal with 194 renewable energy projects on our installations, producing about almost 6% of our towards our goal in 2025. While we may use appropriate funding and performance contracting for smaller renewable energy projects, the Army recognizes it must take a different approach. If we are going to develop large scale projects, it requires to meet our energy security needs. So to further advance our goals and missions, we established the Energy Initiatives Task Force, also known as the EITF. The EITF serves as a central managing office to plan and execute large scale renewable energy projects, 10 megawatts or more on Army installations. The EITF leverages private sector financing and expertise to gain access to upfront capital investment and in return leveraging a long-term power purchase agreement. To support the EITF, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiated the first of its kind multiple award task order contract that we call the METOC, to identify a pre-approved list of developers in four technologies across solar, wind, biomass and geothermal. That total contract ceiling across all four technologies is $7 billion and allows the Army to have maximal flexibility not only for us but also for all our military services. Over the last 20 months, the EITF has positioned five projects to move forward through acquisition, through the planning and execution process, Fort Drum, Fort Detrick, Fort Irwin, Fort Bliss and Schofield Barracks. Schofield Barracks is a lease that will provide the Army energy security through a new power plant located on its installation. These five projects represent a potential of 130 megawatts, a four-fold increase to the Army's capital renewable energy investment to date. Behind the initial EITF project release is a pipeline of projects that are assessing or validating. Through this process, the EITF has screened over 180 Army National Guard Army Reserve installations. And we have identified sites that have the best potential renewable energy development. The EITF is actively working 30 installations right now, conducting due diligence on renewable energy projects based on an enterprise-wide approach. Some of these projects may be terminated or delayed due to market conditions or other risk factors. While this preprint represents a new model for the government, it is similar to the approach a private developer currently takes. As projects are validated and advanced through the pipeline or terminated, new opportunities are pulled up and selected from the Army Enterprise. So this streamlined process developed by the EITF will allow the Army to identify additional projects, minimize risk, and manage our pathway to a one gigawatt of renewable energy by 2025. Together with the emerging microgrid and storage technologies, reliable local sources of renewable energy power will allow our installations to keep operating even when the grid goes down. Renewable energy will continue to be a significant part of the Army's energy strategy. So in closing, the Army is collaboratively managing its energy and sustainability efforts at an enterprise level that leverages the best practice of private industry and our other military services. We offer a model of successful public and private partnerships and we are achieving all of this while enhancing our energy security and strengthening our ability to perform our mission in increasingly complex and challenging global environment. Thank you. Thank you. If anyone has any questions, we have about five minutes. So any questions? Okay, let's take them. The gentleman first. So we are we are also leveraging alternative fuels, but in the liquid fuel arena, we're allowing our military sister services, the Navy, and the Air Force to take lead on that and we follow suit because they are a big consumer with airplanes and their ships. And certainly the Navy has been, you know, out in front, I think really testing and certifying biofuels for all of their aircraft as well as all of their their ships. Okay, right here. Hi, I'm Ray Mosh with I have a question for you. I'm curious as to how are the processes to become a re-approved technology through the Army? I thought it was that there might be a process that is so we had a competition and close the RFP. It's currently under assessments. We awarded Huntsville awarded the first five geothermal pre-qualified developers for the geothermal technology. We're expecting within the next month, two months to have another award for a second technology. The way this runs is a 10-year contract recognizing that companies come and go. What we what we have what Huntsville has built in to this capability is to be able to on-ramp, off-ramp partners and developers on and off the list. We expect that to be about an 18-month window. So as we after we move through they move through the wards this year, 18 months front, henceforth, you'll consider you'll see something else come out soliciting other partners to join. Any other questions? Thank you very much. Okay, thank you very much. I think one of the things that is so important for us all to be aware of and to tell others about is the it's the kind of leadership that we are seeing across the services coming out of the Defense Department in terms of looking to better address mission and security and doing it in these different ways because addressing it through greater efficiency, use of non-fossil fuels moving to renewables does improve the mission capability and the energy security, which is what the Defense Department has been finding throughout in so many applications. And as Kathy said we've seen that with regard to looking at improved resilience at basis too in terms of thinking about reliability when the grid goes down.