Marching toward sustainability: the military's mission for eco-friendly operations could mean more green for Tar Heel companies.

• Position: DEPLOY: SUSTAINABILITY

In 2001, Fort Bragg sketched out aggressive environmental goals--the first of their kind in the Army. The post would cut landfill waste, use less water and reduce its energy use, including gas and diesel. Today, many of the practices that Fort Bragg embraced more than a decade ago have become standard across the Department of Defense. Bases worldwide are ramping up recycling programs, experimenting with renewable power sources, buying alternative-fuel vehicles and rehabilitating old buildings with energy efficiency in mind.

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In military-rich North Carolina, those initiatives are opening new doors for businesses. From the mountains to the coast, Tar Heel companies are working to meet the military's growing need for green products and expertise in eco-friendly practices. "The government realizes it has a role to play as a catalyst for a lot of these green technologies, and the military is realizing that there is a national-security interest through energy security and is willing to implement a lot of these actions," says Scott Dorney, executive director of the Fayetteville-based North Carolina Military Business Center, which helps link companies to military opportunities. "They may cost money in the short run, but over time they will not only help the bases meet their objectives but jump-start a lot of these technologies for the commercial market as well."

Though Fort Bragg was an early advocate of sustainable-energy practices, much of the military's recent push into sustainability springs from a series of federal laws and executive orders. As a result, the Defense Department measures its progress with about two dozen specific targets, such as reducing water consumption by 26% between 2007 and 2020 and generating 18.3% of energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

In the last decade, the Defense Department's spending on energy has quadrupled to more than $20 billion a year. If the Defense Department were a country, it would rank 54th in the world in energy use, more than developed countries such as Denmark, Portugal and Israel, according to a 2010 study by Global Green USA, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based environmental non-profit. A growing amount of that money is being directed toward nontraditional sources. Last year, for instance, the Army announced that it plans to spend up to $7 billion on renewable-energy sources.

In North Carolina, businesses are attending seminars sponsored by the N.C. Military Business Center...