Recognition is an important part of the Federal Green Challenge (FGC). Awards were given at the regional level in the categories of Leadership, Innovation, Water, and Waste.

In the New England region, the 2016 award winners are the Manchester Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, West Haven VA Medical Campus, and the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Below are descriptions of what the awardees achieved and/or how they achieved reductions.

Leadership

Manchester Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, Manchester, New Hampshire

To incorporate a green infrastructure design into a new construction project, the VA Manchester Medical Center installed a storm water retention and underground infiltration system that would “maintain or restore the predevelopment hydrology of the property.” The system was built to manage runoff from the rooftop of a new VA Healthcare addition, equaling 54,000 square feet of impervious surface. The project calculations determined that 8,228 gallons of storm water would need to be managed. The project design exceeded this capacity by diverting 9,724 gallons of water to an underground tank, where it infiltrates into the surrounding gravel and, ultimately, into the underlying subsurface soil. The new system can manage storm water from a 95th percentile rain event, resulting in a 16 percent decrease in storm water runoff for the entire VA site and ensuring compliance with the Energy Independence and Security Act storm water requirements. This is the second FGC award for this facility.

Innovation

West Haven Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Campus, West Haven, Connecticut

The VA West Haven campus completed the installation of 940 solar panels in 2015, totaling 12,746 square feet of photovoltaic (PV) capacity. To conduct this project, the management team generated detailed plans, involving utility data, financial projections, engineering assessments and architectural schematics. They also selected state-of-the-art PV technology that allowed the project to succeed in New England, where weather conditions and a northern latitude challenge large-scale PV projects. Consequently, the solar array project established a valuable demonstration site by showcasing successful technology and pragmatic design for New England federal facility mangers. In 2015, the VA facility generated 238,356 kilowatt-hour of renewable electricity, resulting in energy savings of $30,089.

Water

U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, Rhode Island

The U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center decreased the amount of potable water consumed from 46,458,000 gallons in 2014 to 23,846,000 gallons in 2015, resulting in a 49 percent reduction.