Military Housing Gets Greener: Energy Upgrades for Fort Sam Houston Families
One of the largest U.S. companies for the military is launching a complete energy efficiency overhaul for the community around Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
Hunt Military Communities (HMC) will work with utility CPS Energy on a community-wide effort to improve energy efficiency in the housing serving military families at the U.S. Army base. Work will include LED lighting upgrades, weatherstripping, faucet aerators, low-flow showerheads and power saving technologies.
The scope of work is within CPS Energy’s Sustainable Tomorrow Energy Plan. Efficiency technologies installed at 925 homes across Fort Sam Houston Family Housing could save a total of about $102,000 annually in energy costs, or $111 per home each year, according to the release. The upgrades also may help cut annual maintenance costs of about $74,000 annually for the military community.
“Our military families deserve homes that are reliable, comfortable, and efficient,” Brian Stann, president of Hunt Military Communities, said in a statement. “This project is a meaningful investment in the performance and long-term sustainability of our Fort Sam Houston community — lowering utility consumption while improving the day-to-day experience of the families who live there.”
The installation phase of the Hunt community-wide energy efficiency overhaul began this month. The company estimated it might save about 1,000 kWh, or 1 MWh, in energy consumption per home annually.
“Working with Hunt Military Communities gives us an opportunity to bring the benefits of energy efficiency to hundreds of military families in our community,” said Ana Lozano, director of technology and product innovation at San Antonio-based CPS Energy.
Hunt Military Communities is a major housing contractor and developer which oversees more than 60,000 homes serving the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Space Force installations. Other energy projects undertaken at some bases recently include a distributed energy solar and battery storage installed at Hansom Air Force Base in Massachusetts and energy efficiency overhaul at Scott AFB in Illinois.
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EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.