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Loading...The US Military Is Fighting…Climate Change?
The US military, while known for their massive size and budget, is now making moves to become more eco-conscious, or at least taking steps in the right direction. While the weapons of war are not changing drastically, the vehicles are. In fact, under the direction of Obama’s vision to create a clean energy economy, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Navy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to encourage the development of advanced biofuels and other renewable energy systems
While the name, The Great Green Fleet, is not great for marketing, it does have five realizable energy goals set by Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus and the USDA:
- When awarding contracts, appropriately consider energy efficiency and the energy footprint as additional factors in acquisition decisions.
- By 2012, demonstrate a Green Strike Group composed of nuclear vessels and ships powered by biofuel. By 2016 sail the Strike Group as a Great Green Fleet composed of nuclear ships, surface combatants equipped with hybrid electric alternative power systems running on biofuel, and aircraft running on biofuel.
- By 2015 cut petroleum use in its 50,000 non-tactical commercial fleet in half, by phasing in hybrid, flex fuel and electric vehicles.
- By 2020 produce at least half of shore based installations’ energy requirements from alternative sources. Also 50 percent of all shore installations will be net zero energy consumers.
- By 2020 half of DoN’s total energy consumption for ships, aircraft, tanks, vehicles and shore installations will come from alternative sources.[Source: USDA]
The navy has actually begun testing biofuels on their fighter jets. The biofuel is a 50-50 mix with Petro-fuel and will most likely contain either algae, camelina or jatropha. While there is still regular fuel in the engines, the usage of biofuel can potentially reduce jet fuel carbon emissions by 84% [Source: Treehugger] with the use of camelina, a common weed. Not only can biofuels reduce emissions, the biofuel blends also increase jet engine efficiency by 1.1% [Source: Reuters]. In fact, the recent test of the Green Hornet (F404 F/A-18) showed that the engine did not react poorly towards biofuels, in fact, it could not tell the difference between regular fuel and biofuel [Source: Navy].
While these first steps are encouraging, there are also many issues that go along with it. First off is how to collect that much biofuel. The major issue is space. Should food based biofuels be used, there would be a shortage of food and thus an increase in prices. Plants like camelina are promising as they grow in the wild. Camelina has been called the “miracle biofuel” as the plant can be grown in marginal soil, requires little rainfall, yields twice the amount biofuel as soybeans and produces more cold-resistant oils [Source: Ecogeek]. Montana alone can produce 200-300 million gallons of biofuel a year, and with 9 different states on board and 4 Canadian provinces, camelina could potentially become the next big biofuel. However, the US military burns around 10.6 million gallons of gas every day [Source: Forbes]. These high fuel demands make it difficult for biofuels to really take over the market since the massive amount of fuel needed every year is too demanding. In fact, increasing demand for plant-based biofuels could have the opposite effect on the environment as more land is cleared to plant these crops.
While the step that the military is taking is still a small step, it’s one in the right direction. Still, it’s not just what the vehicles burn, it’s also how they are made and what they carry. While the jets and ships may emit less carbon, the fact of the matter is that they are still carrying nuclear weapons (very bad for the environment) and ultimately the production of these vehicles are still not environmentally friendly. However, since the military tends to receive the newest and hottest technology, it probably won’t be long until we actually have planes, boats and tanks running off of renwable energy…hopefully.
Read more: environment & wildlife, environmentally friendly military, green military, military biofuel, navy using biofuels, us military going green
treehugger
Jasmine Greene
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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+ add your ownI guess that is a start in the right direction, just a start though
Fuel
Planting only 6 percent of the continental United States with biomass crops such as hemp would supply all current domestic demands for oil and gas.
Did you know the average American spends 33 of 40 working hours to support their need for energy? It's true; 80 percent of the total monetary living expense for everything we do is ultimately wrapped up in energy costs; from the energy it takes to make the food we eat, to fuel for the cars we drive, to the manufacturing, storage and transportation of the products we buy. And 80 percent of solid and airborne pollution in our environment can be blamed on fossil energy sources. It is estimated that America has already exhausted 80 percent of its fossil fuel reserves.
Industrial hemp is the number one biomass producer on earth, meaning an actual contender for an economically competitive, clean burning fuel. Hemp has four times the biomass and cellulose potential and eight times the methanol potential of its closest competing crop - corn. Burning coal and oil are the greatest sources of acid rain; biomass fuels burn clean and contain no sulphur and produce no ash during combustion. The cycle of growing and burning biomass crops keeps the world s carbon dioxide level at perfect equilibrium, which means that we are less likely to experience the global climactic changes (greenhouse effect) brought about by excess carbon dioxide and water vapors after burning fossil fuels.
GOOGLE HEMP, GO TO WIKIPIDIA
A smart move from a strategic perspective, lessening the military's reliance on vulnerable fossil fuel supplies.
it´s good that the process has started
about time, they caused alot of it...
They ought to use solar .I also will believe it when I see it . I think the big wigs fool us a lot of the time.
Only because the military industrial complex receives most of our tax dollars, the development of emergency fuel alternatives does this offer any positive possibilities. There have been many such developments in the past and veterans can tell you that they remember using them -only to have the technology 'disappear' after the war. All of our corporate wars have been for BIG OIL for at least the last 70 years. Fighting for Peace is an oxymoron, as is 'Green War Machines'. People have been trained to be fearful consumers who will buy anything if it is falsely prepackaged to sell the status quo.
Our foreign policies have not changed for over half a century, no matter who is in the White House. To the industrial military complex, Green may only a means for the Department of Offense to become more efficient at environmental destruction.
anything that helps. better than fighting people and destroying environments.
Kudos to the Navy for their eco-friendly move.
Now close the offshore bases.
awesome, great to hear this!
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