Center for a New American Security

The U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command is experimenting with flexible solar cells that could help the U.S. Army save millions of dollars in fuel costs and bolster mission effectiveness by requiring fewer shipments of fuel to remote locations.

“Solar shade produces two kilowatts of power – that may not seem like a lot, but in a remote area it’s perfect because you don’t have to worry about transporting fuel or replacing parts,” Major Tim Franklin told U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs. “You could place this on a remote mountain site to provide power for a radio retransmission site [since] it requires very little maintenance,” he said.

“Because of the overall benefits, Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa wants to keep the equipment and have added it to their property books since they plan to use it in other locations and on other missions in Africa,” U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs reported. “The solar shade produces power and gets about 70 to 80 percent blockage of the sun, so the shade is cooler than many of tents or shades used now and it produces clean energy from the sun,” said Franklin.

Given that the solar cells are still in the experimental phase, there is no mention if the technology will be deployed to combat theatres in Afghanistan. Yet the U.S. Army’s investment in and testing of the technology demonstrates their continued efforts to develop alternative energy sources in order to help the military reduce its dependence on the long and vulnerable logistical tether to the energy it requires to complete its missions.

Photo: The experimental solar cells are shown here in Djibouti, Ethiopia. Courtesy of U.S. Army Africa.

The atmosphere between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been noticeably tense since President Obama delivered his Middle East speech last Thursday; Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered his reaction to the president’s remarks. And a meeting between the two leaders at the White House last Friday seemed to do little to improve the perception, with The Wall Street Journal noting that the meeting was “viewed by some as a low point in Washington's relations with the Jewish state.”

Perhaps one area that could potentially strengthen the U.S.-Israeli relationship is around energy security. As both leaders have made pronouncements about the challenges and concerns with their nations’ dependence on fossil fuels, energy security may prove to be fertile ground to engage in greater cooperation and improve good will on both sides.

Last night, Christine emailed me this story from the China Daily reporting that China has proposed a tsunami warning system that would link vulnerable countries in the South China Sea region, including China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore. Yu Fujiang, deputy director of the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center with the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), warned an audience at the International Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System in Beijing that seismic activity in the region could have devastating consequences for China and its neighbors.  Yu noted that “The March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which wiped out coastal communities in northeast Japan and left more than 25,000 dead, caused alarm in countries with exposed coastlines and highlighted the urgent need for some type of warning system,” according to the China Daily . “The system would help these countries share data to reduce the damage caused by a tsunami,” Yu said. “If the proposal is passed by the group, the system will probably be in operation within five years,” the China Daily reported. 

CNAS is currently leading a project on the South China Sea region where CNAS researchers will analyze evidence of conflict and cooperation in an effort to judge, on balance, where trends in the region may be leading. That China is prepared to cooperate with its South China Sea neighbors, at least around natural disaster preparedness, may be a positive sign that the region is tilting more toward cooperation. Yet it is too early to tell. Indeed, it is hard not to see that while the tsunami warning system is a positive development for cooperation in the region, it also helps China buttress its interests in the region, including offshore drilling and other resource extractive operations that could be exposed to potential tsunamis. According to the China Daily, “After the Japan tsunami, the SOA proposed to the State Council, China's Cabinet, that assessments be carried out on the consequences of potential marine disasters to key offshore projects,” the kind of offshore projects that could bring states into competition with each other over access to resources in the region.

Christine is in Asia this week to conduct research for the South China Sea project the Natural Security team is working on with some of our CNAS colleagues. One place she’ll be visiting during her time abroad is the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMRB), an area shared by Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. The LMRB was recently in the news when Laos’s plan to build a hydropower dam sparked tensions with its neighbors. Having researched this for our South China Sea project, it’s worth discussing some of what we’ve learned.

First, what makes the river so important? The river serves as a lifeline for the region’s 60 million people in two ways: agricultural production (primarily rice) and fisheries. Together these two industries employ 85 percent of the population and feed nearly everyone. While it is well known how important rice is in the daily diets for people from these countries, perhaps less known is how important fish is as well. In Cambodia, for instance, fish accounts for 80 percent of the nation’s total animal protein consumption. It’s therefore no trivial matter that the lower Mekong River, the world’s largest inland fish source, accounts for 20 percent of the world’s freshwater fish.

The river’s importance and the shared threat China’s economic growth may pose to the river have led Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand to, in general, adopt a cooperative approach in developing the region’s water resources. In 1957, these states established the Mekong Committee, which existed until 1995 when it was supplemented and expanded by the Mekong River Commission. These regional organizations have provide a forum to resolve any controversies that arise, the most recent example being Laos’s decision to delay the construction of a new dam project.

If I had to pick one news story that stood out to me this weekend, it would have to be this piece from the Sunday Washington Post reporting on the growing domestic backlash to India’s land grab. The story stood out to me, in part, because land rights, use and seizing are issues we have not analyzed too much on the Natural Security blog. But as this report from yesterday’s Post portends, it is a creeping trend that we are likely to read more about as farmers in developing countries seek to hold onto their land in countries where population growth is shrinking the amount of arable farmland at the same time governments try to industrialize their economies by renting land to domestic or foreign companies.

“All over India, farmers are coming into conflict with the government as it tries to satisfy the country’s insatiable hunger for land for industry, infrastructure and urban housing,” the Post reported. “And the decades-old way of doing business — the government seizing the land under a British colonial law, paying a token compensation to farmers and then bullying people into submission — just isn’t working anymore.”

The report details a number of billion dollar investments being made by South Korean and Indonesian companies, to name just a few. Yet as the government attempts to capitalize on the interest from foreign companies, long-time farmers are rebuffing attempts by the government to seize their land. As a result, “Projects worth tens of billions of dollars have been held up as farmers, backed by local politicians and empowered by India’s vibrant television news channels, have found their voice — and said no,” according to the Post.

A new report finds that water scarcity is most acute in the Middle East and Africa, with Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait the first, second and third countries most affected respectively, according to the Huffington Post.

Reuters reports that European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said that the EU will likely reach a nuclear reactor agreement in the next few days after a series of stress tests concludes.

In a meeting with his Uzbek counterpart, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that his country will consider joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a full member in order to advance energy security, according to United Press International.  

Military spouse Lauren Finnegan discusses the environmental improvements being made on military bases across the country on Yahoo! News.  

Finally, writing on Asia Times Online, Donald Kirk reports on the tensions between South Korea and the United States over whether to intervene to avert a food crisis in North Korea.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Taiwan and China are discussing a possible rare earths deal.

Images from Earth Observation Satellites have found that Brazil’s deforestation increased from 103 sq km in March and April 2010, to 593 sq km (229 sq miles) in March and April 2011, the BBC reports. In response, the Brazilian government created a crisis center to combat the trend, according to the Associated Press.

AP also reports that the Chinese government has released a statement acknowledging that pollution and lax regulations are causing problems for its Three Dams Gorge, the largest hydroelectric project in the world.

United Press International reports that Egypt is running out of food and money as food prices increased 10.7 percent in April compared to prices in April 2010.

A 17 percent increase in the price of wheat over the past week is putting additional public pressure on Middle East governments, many of which import their wheat supplies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• Forbes reports that rolling blackouts have crippled businesses in parts of China and are “likely to get worse before they get better- to put it mildly.” 
• Republican Senators blocked a bill yesterday that would have repealed $2 billion in annual tax breaks for the top five oil companies, according to National Public Radio.
• The Department of Energy announced $25 million in funding over the next five years for the U.S.-India Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center (JCERDC).
• President Obama appointed a new chairman and three new members to a panel that advises the U.S. Agency on International Development on global food security issues, according to MSNBC.
• Finally, The New York Times reports that the United Kingdom announced a legally binding commitment to cut emissions by 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2025.

Over the last several years, the United States has elevated the Arctic region as a U.S. national security prerogative. Just days before leaving office in January 2009, President Bush issued National Security Presidential Directive 66, stating that “the United States has broad and fundamental national security interests in the Arctic region and is prepared to operate either independently or in conjunction with other states to safeguard these interests.” In April 2011, President Obama signed a revised Unified Command Plan (UCP), designating U.S. Northern Command as the lead command for Arctic issues in the Department of Defense. (Previously, authority over the Arctic region had been split among U.S. European, Northern and Pacific Commands, complicating unity of effort within the Department of Defense.) The UCP change arguably signaled a shift in the Arctic’s strategic priority, giving the military greater latitude in determining current and future capabilities for Arctic missions.

Last week, Secretary of State Clinton attended the Seventh Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council, the first U.S. Secretary of State to attend the meeting of Arctic nations, reiterating America’s concerns in the Arctic, while emphasizing the need for international cooperation. The meeting concluded with the Arctic Council’s first binding agreement for council members –Russia, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and the United States – to coordinate search-and-rescue operations. Needless to say, the U.S. government – between the Departments of Defense and State and others in the interagency – has been better positioning itself to adapt to the challenges of a melting Arctic that scientists say could be ice free for one month out of the year by 2030 as a result of global climate change.  Yet in order to fully prepare for the challenges of an open Arctic, especially around competing claims for minerals and energy resources, the United States needs to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled several nuclear reactors at Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station, policymakers and nuclear watchdog groups – among others – have been scrutinizing the U.S. nuclear industry, including regulatory procedures and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) charged with overseeing nuclear power operations in the United States in an effort to assess vulnerabilities and stave off a similar disaster.

Over the weekend The Washington Post ran two reports assessing potential vulnerabilities at U.S. nuclear facilities. According to a report from the Post on Saturday, U.S. nuclear facilities could be vulnerable to power failures that take the facilities’ cooling systems offline.  Testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Friday, David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists told lawmakers that the backup batteries that are designed to keep a facility’s cooling system online in the event of a power failure may be inadequate as many plants keep only four hours worth of battery, forcing engineers to literally race against the clock to restore power. “Lochbaum recommended that plants extend battery capacity to 16 hours, giving workers more time to restore cooling power,” the Post reported. But according to a representative from the NRC, “regulations require U.S. nuclear plants to maintain two backup diesel generators for each reactor. Last month, such generators worked as designed when severe storms knocked out primary power at the Brown’s Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama.” But, as the Post pointed out, diesel generators are also susceptible to damage or failure. “At Fukushima, a powerful earthquake knocked out primary power, and a subsequent tsunami wiped out backup diesel generators. On-site batteries depleted within eight hours, leaving workers with no power to cool the cores of three nuclear reactors.”

• The BBC reported on the WikiLeaks cables that indicate Russia and other countries jockeying to “carve up” Arctic territory for access to resources.
• At the same time, the Arctic Council meeting in Greenland seems to be producing new cooperation protocols, according to The New York Times.
• Foreign Policy has a great, long piece on the Congo that discusses how mining relates to the country's continuous conflict.
• Nigeria’s oil exports face increasing instability once again, according to Bloomberg.
• The Japanese space agency says that its Earth monitoring satellite Daichi is dead in orbit, UPI reports.