Sustainable Design & Development
Sustainable Design and Development (SDD) became Army Policy in the year 2000 and in June 2001, the Sustainable Project Rating Tool (SPiRiT) was mandated as the method for evaluating sustainability for all Army projects starting with the FY 2002 MCA program. SDD is the design, construction, operation and reuse/removal of the built environment in an environmentally and energy-efficient manner. The building must meet the needs of today's customer without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainability initiatives require an integrated design approach to the life cycle of buildings and infrastructure. In FY 2001, the ACSIM/USACE issued the initial policy requiring all MCA projects to be scored using SPiRiT and that the project designs achieve the minimum Bronze level. In 2003, the Assistant Secretary of Army raised the minimum sustainable goal level for MILCON projects from Bronze to GOLD. Starting in FY 2006, for all MILCON project designs initiated after March 2003 and for all future MILCON projects, the minimum SPiRiT rating is Gold. This policy applies to vertical construction and projects planned or designed under the Residential Communities Initiative. In FY 2007, the Army designed/constructed 384 new buildings. Of those 384 new buildings, 301 of them, or 78%, could qualify to be certified as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
or 42.2 percent.