Pew Study Salutes Pentagon for Eco-Friendly Thinking
Journalist: Tamara Lytle
Original Post: Pew Study Salutes Pentagon for Eco-Friendly Thinking
Type: News Article
April 21, 2010 — An organization that buys jet fuel by the billions of gallons and gets around in gas-guzzling tanks seems an unlikely leader in the effort to go green.
But according to a report released today by the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate, the U.S. military is making great strides in curbing its appetite for fossil fuels.
"This whole [Defense Department] is mobilized and thinking green," said John Warner, the former Navy secretary and Virginia senator, who worked with the Pew Project on its study. For instance, he said, troops in Afghanistan are using photovoltaic cells to power computers and spraying tents with insulation to cut heating and cooling costs. "Everywhere you go, the American GI is figuring out how to save energy."
The Pentagon accounts for 80 percent of the federal government's energy consumption, burning through 2.5 billion gallons of jet fuel annually for the Air Force alone.
Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Project, said the military is leading the way for the country with energy conservation just as it did with the development of the Internet and global positioning technology. "The military is doing much, much more than sounding the alarm," she said.
And the armed forces' efforts to reduce their harmful effects on the environment can save money and have tactical benefits, too, according to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. For instance, using solar and wind power in Afghanistan means there is less need to have fuel trucked in by convoys traveling treacherous, bomb-studded roads. It also means military personnel can spend more time on their mission and less time on fuel logistics.
Mabus added that America needs to "quit being dependent for energy on potentially volatile places on earth."
The Navy plans to get only half its energy from fossil fuels by the year 2020 and even has a bit of a head start: 17 percent of the fuel it uses for its ships comes from nuclear power.
In honor of Earth Day this week, the Navy will test its "Green Hornet," an F/A-18 Super Hornet that uses a mix of jet fuel and a biofuel derived from a mustard plant called camelina. It will also test a Marine tanklike vehicle -- the Marine Light Armored Vehicle -- with biofuels, though Mabus admitted it doesn't exactly get great mileage.
Mabus said making green changes isn't always easy. Ships last for 30 to 50 years, for example, which means the current fleet was created before the wave of eco-friendly technology and still has a ways to go before it can be retired.
On the other hand, the Pentagon is replacing its fleet of vehicles with hybrids and other cars that use alternative fuels -- and those vehicles turn over in about five years, Mabus said. The Army, for example, will have 4,000 electric vehicles within three years, one of the largest fleets in the world, and save 11 million gallons of gas a year, according to the Pew study.
The high price of alternative fuels also is a challenge; however, if the military brings its buying clout to the alternative-energy market, it could make such fuels cheaper and more available for the larger community. It could also generate alternative energy itself, as one California base is doing: Producing more geothermal energy than it needs, it sends the excess to the local power grid.
Christine Parthemore of the Center for a New American Security said the market for alternative fuels is developing in ways the military can utilize. "We can't say, 'Oh, we should fly less,' " she said. "The goal has to be to fulfill U.S. military missions. What we need to do is ensure we have sustainable supplies of those fuels over the long term."
Topic(s): Natural Resources + National Security = Natural Security, U.S. Military Forces & Operations
Project(s): Energy Security and Climate Change, U.S. Military Forces and Operations
