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MAG 49 'LEED' way in environmental innovation

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Dennis L. Sloan
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst's Marine Aircraft Group 49 unit received the Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Award Jan. 25 here.

The unit and base leadership accepted the Silver LEED Award together for achieving high performance in human and environmental health quality during the design and construction phases of Building 4401 here.

Leadership from every service on the joint base was present to congratulate the Marines on their success.

The LEED program is run by the U.S. Green Building Council, which provides building owners and operators with a framework to identify and implement practical and measurable green-building design construction, operation and maintenance solutions.

"We've gone above and beyond with our attention to energy consumption and reduction of impacts to the environment," said Capt. Mark Libonate, Mid-Atlantic Naval Facilities Engineering Command commanding officer at Naval Station Norfolk, Va.

The program also uses a rating system to evaluate the environmental performance of a building and encourage market transformation toward sustainable design.

"We achieved so much during this project," said Col. Chris Papaj, MAG 49 commanding officer. "We exceeded several environmental requirements for LEED."

Ninety-Five percent of left-over material and waste produced during construction was recycled.

"The recycling percentage is huge," said Libonate. "You have to think about all the wood, metal and cardboard that comes here to complete this construction. It is amazing we could achieve such a high recycling percentage."

Construction of Building 4401 took nearly two years and $72 million to complete.

"This is by far the biggest project I have ever worked on," said Tom Trumbetas, 87th Civil Engineer Squadron project engineer. "Every project has bumps in the road, but I feel this one in particular went very well."

The construction process and other environmentally-friendly innovations earned the project more than 50 points in the new construction and major renovations category qualifying the building for the Silver LEED Award.

A building requires at least 40 points for basic LEED certification. Points are awarded when environmentally-friendly actions are taken during construction and building use. The awards range from Certification, which is the lowest to Platinum being the highest.

The building houses two Marine helicopter squadrons and one Marine support squadron. The squadron's missions are to organize, train and equip combat-ready squadrons to augment and reinforce the active Marine forces. The building contains two hangars, which are constantly set to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

"One of the energy-efficient highlights of the building is the heated floors in the two hangars," said Papaj. "With the heat rising from the floor it makes it easier and more energy efficient to keep the large hangar at a constant 70 degrees."

Joint base leadership received a certificate for the Silver LEED building. A plaque made of recycled glass will be placed on the building designating it as LEED certified.