A new white paper developed by SERDP identifies key policy questions that need to be addressed to ensure that climate change vulnerability and impact assessments are conducted effectively and that assessment findings are appropriately used to inform decisions. The paper draws on the work of four SERDP-funded research projects that are developing and testing information, models, and tools necessary to examine the potential climate change vulnerability of and impacts on military installations along the coast.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has released a Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap (CCAR) that details the Department’s plan for managing the effects of climate change on its operations and infrastructure in both the short and long term. This roadmap, a key element of DoD’s annual update of its Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan (SSPP), specifically calls out SERDP’s work to develop climate change assessment tools for DoD’s installations.

ESTCP released a solicitation on February 12, 2013, requesting proposals for demonstration of installation energy technologies. FY 2014 funds are available through a competitive process to Federal and private organizations. The due date for all pre-proposals is Thursday, March 28, 2013. More information about the solicitation is available at www.serdp-estcp.org/Funding-Opportunities/ESTCP-Solicitations/Installation-Energy-Solicitation.

An Office of the Secretary of Defense effort is under way to establish a sophisticated turnkey repair station for magnesium alloy aerospace components using the highly successful cold spray technology developed with ESTCP support. The novel coating system represents a low-cost, environmentally friendly method for combatting corrosion and reclaiming otherwise unsalvageable magnesium components. The repair station will be the first single facility with the capability to perform all the operations required to restore these salvaged parts and will reduce repair time by up to three months.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in collaboration with SERDP has released a report on global sea level rise scenarios out to the year 2100. The report, written by contributors from 10 federal and academic science institutions, lays out four risk-based scenarios describing potential future conditions. These scenarios can be used to analyze vulnerabilities and impacts from sea level rise and take action to minimize them.

ESTCP released a solicitation on January 10, 2013, requesting proposals for demonstration of environmental technologies. FY 2014 funds are available through a competitive process to both Federal and private organizations. The due date for all pre-proposals is Thursday, March 14, 2013. More information about this solicitation is available at www.serdp-estcp.org/Funding-Opportunities/ESTCP-Solicitations/Environmental-Technologies-Solicitation.

ESTCP has announced 22 new awards for demonstrations of emerging energy and water technologies on military installations through its Installation Energy Test Bed initiative. A list of the selected projects may be found here.

As the Department of Defense moves toward the adoption of geophysical classification for munitions response to accelerate cleanup, communities involved in UXO investigations need to be confident in the approach’s effectiveness. In November 2012, ESTCP convened a stakeholders’ forum on the use of geophysical classification for munitions response. Chaired by Lenny Siegel of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, the forum was attended by ten geographically representative stakeholders from some of the nation’s best known former range sites who met to discuss the emerging technique.

Sixty-six SERDP and ESTCP FY 2013 new start projects have been selected for funding. A full listing of project numbers, titles, and performers is available here.

Congratulations to the six SERDP and ESTCP Projects of the Year, recognized for research and technology developments with significant benefits to the Department of Defense (DoD). These outstanding efforts are helping DoD achieve its mission while improving its environmental performance.