The Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate has released a report titled From Barracks to the Battlefield: Clean Energy Innovations and America’s Armed Forces. The report details the United States military’s efforts to use, promote and develop clean and renewable energy sources.
Political and military analysts have long identified America’s dependence upon foreign energy sources, primarily petroleum, as a security risk. The top four nations exporting oil to the United States as of September 29, 2011, were Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Venezuela. Three of those four have the potential to cut off exports due to internal violence or political activity.
The Pew report states that in 2009 the Department of Defense used 375,000 barrels of oil a day, making it one of the single largest oil consumers, and greater than many nations. It spent $15.2 billion on operational energy uses and just over $4 billion on facility energy use in FY 2010. Jet fuel made up 81 percent of the operational use, and 64 percent of the facilities use was for electricity.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told reporters in August that for every fifty truckloads of fuel brought into Afghanistan, one Marine is killed or wounded. The Navy and the Marine Corps are devoting a great deal of effort to develop and field green technologies. It is not just a matter of saving money but of saving lives.
Biofuels are one of the areas cited by the Pew report as growing and as an opportunity for additional expansion. The Navy has a biofuels test program for ships and aircraft, and intends to sail a carrier battle group on this type of fuel in 2015. They call it the “Great Green Fleet”.
The Army, as the report notes, is devoting land to various green electricity generation projects. Fort Bliss in Texas is nearly at a “net zero” status with a number of innovations including smart grid electrical technologies, solar power, wind and geothermal power projects. In California, Fort Irwin is working on a 500 megawatt solar power installation.
Pew did not look at the Coast Guard, but this military service is also going green. The Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore is using methane from a landfill co-generation project for power. Other stations and facilities are also finding ways to use the sun and wind for energy generation.
This report is an excellent summary of the efforts of the Department of Defense and the various services to reduce cost, enhance security and continue to defend the United States through the use of all types of green energy.
Charles Simmins brings thirty years of accounting and management experience to his coverage of the news. An upstate New Yorker, he is a freelance journalist, former volunteer firefighter and EMT, and is owned by a wife and four cats.
