The Fort Carson, CO, Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) complex is a proposed 60-building development originally planned as a grouping of individual structures, each with its own boilers and chillers. None were to be engineered to share energy resources with neighboring structures. After the initial planning for the CAB, the US Army named Fort Carson as one of eight pilot net zero installations for energy use as a part of the Army's overall effort to conserve resources. Fort Carson's goal for the CAB complex at Butts Army Airfield consequently became the construction of a "net zero ready" community of buildings designed to optimize energy performance, water conservation, and waste diversion.

The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) conducted a study to assess the potential for synergy betweenCABfacilities energy needsandthe feasibility of building a Central Energy Plant (CEP) that would produce hot and chilled water to be used for heating and cooling throughout the CAB complex, and that could also generate electricity through cogeneration. This paper describes the results of the study and different alternatives considered, as well as energy requirements and specific technologies thathave been applied to this new generation of buildings.