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Army Keeps Military Green Push, Embraces Solar, Wind, and Bio-Fuel Power
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 3:15 AM on October 11, 2008
The Army is following the Air Force's green efforts to cut their energy expenditures and, presumably, don't see their weapons budget cut. They will install solar panels and windmills, while investing in bio-fuels and energy conservation in bases all around the country. According to Keith Eastin, assistant Army secretary for Installations and Environmen, this will be good not only for the military, but for all of us:
The Army plans to increase efficiency and serve as a model for the military and the nation when it comes to the operation of our housing, buildings, and forward operating bases. The Army will use its considerable purchasing power to push green projects that might not otherwise receive needed money.
One of these projects is the installation of a 500 megawatt solar thermal plant in Ft. Irwin, an Army base located in the Mojave Desert. Another, the purchase of 4,000 Small Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles similar to the Peapod, which will always beat the SUVs currently in use at these bases.
The effort will have to be really serious, as their energy costs have increased a full 40% during the last seven years, even while they have cut consumption by almost 8%. According to their latest numbers released this week in Washington, D.C., right now they are spending $US2 billion on fuel every year. However, most of it goes to feeding the generators that power the temporary bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, so no matter how much money they spend on saving energy at home, they still will have to feed the monster around the world. [DODBuzz]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Killjoy
Posted 4:31 AM 11/10/08
@Lite: Yes, and just look what you've won.
On a serious note, water is becoming a war-worthy resource.
Killjoy
Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E
Posted 4:30 AM 11/10/08
Hopefully this will significantly offset the problems with trying to establish a new fuel source. Then Joe Sixpack and John Zima (gag) can enjoy a greener tomorrow.
And we can make our ICBM's smell like daisies!
Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E
Curves
Posted 4:29 AM 11/10/08
If they want to save energy, maybe they can come home and stop cruising around hot, dry, sandy places looking to shove democracy and freedom down the throats of people who dont want or deserve it.
Curves
DustyButt
Posted 4:26 AM 11/10/08
I was at the AUSA convention in DC on Wednesday... You know how much coverage green tech got?
A fraction of a percent less than Zero.
Not that I doubt their enthusiasm. I just have a sneaking suspicion that things will be dragged along slowly until they reach the tipping point and then a mad scramble will erupt... as usual.
DustyButt
Lite
Posted 4:26 AM 11/10/08
They're just gearing up in which they take over the water supplies of the world and rename themselves the department of water and power.
Pa-pa-pa-pow!
Lite
Lev_Astov
Posted 4:24 AM 11/10/08
@urbanturban666: Not really, they're concerned about having enough fuel to last through long engagements, i.e. WW3
Naturally, the military wants to make our fuel supply last as long as possible.
Lev_Astov
urbanturban666
Posted 4:19 AM 11/10/08
but the military loves guzzling gas...
urbanturban666
Lite
Posted 5:02 AM 11/10/08
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Is living in the Matrix better or worse than say, Mad Max?
Lite
GadgetPlay
Posted 5:00 AM 11/10/08
How did they manage to sneak this effort by those evil anti-environment oil men Bush and Cheney?
GadgetPlay
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Posted 4:58 AM 11/10/08
Does anyone see the downside of Solar, Wind, and "Bio"(as in meat)-fueled vehicles? Has The Matrix, Terminator, etc... taught us nothing?
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Lite
Posted 4:57 AM 11/10/08
@Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E: Aren't ICBM's really just daisy-cutters writ large?
And zima? That stuff tastes like zit.
Lite
urbanturban666
Posted 4:57 AM 11/10/08
@Lev_Astov: thats why they still use humvees to drive around there base?
urbanturban666
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Posted 4:57 AM 11/10/08
@Curves: I think Llyod Bridges said it best:
President Thomas 'Tug' Benson: Here's the target area.
Gerou: That's Minnesota, sir.
President Thomas 'Tug' Benson: Damn it, man, that's the genius of my plan. Why go over there to fight? We can do it right here at home, and get in some good fishing while we're at it.
Gerou: Sir, the enemy is over there.
President Thomas 'Tug' Benson: Then we'll fly them over here. Their families too. We'll teach them to skate... Do I have to think of everything?
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Final
Posted 4:57 AM 11/10/08
Seeing as you can't drive over 15 mph on any miltary bases and the MPs are real bastards about enforcing it neighborhood electric vehicles make perfect sense for bases.
Final
Pwnieboy
Posted 4:51 AM 11/10/08
@Curves: Well, they'll try everything except that!
Pwnieboy
Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E
Posted 5:15 AM 11/10/08
@GadgetPlay: Internet
Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E
DustyButt
Posted 5:10 AM 11/10/08
@CGANIERE: Because thats called "Isolationism". If you read the history books it's a wretched idea. Examples, WW I & II.
DustyButt
Ghede
Posted 5:10 AM 11/10/08
Thank god! We have temporal bases in Iraq! Quick, send them back to 2000 to warn the world!
Ghede
blackmage439
Posted 5:07 AM 11/10/08
"...500 megawatt solar thermal plant..."
Yikes. Just make sure Halliburton or KBR don't install it, or you could have all of those 500 megawatts going straight into some poor soldier taking a shower...
blackmage439
CGANIERE
Posted 5:04 AM 11/10/08
Perhaps we could close the bases around the world and wait till a real war before venturing outside our boarders.
CGANIERE
mltdwn
Posted 5:42 AM 11/10/08
@urbanturban666: Actually if you research you'll find the gas they use to power said Humvees is for the most part coal generated gasoline (as developed by Germany in WWII) not oil generated gasoline which is actually a lot cleaner burning and doesn't impact the world oil market. But our military has been off of oil gasoline for the most part for quite a few years now so that they can stay independent. Most of the services are nearly completely coal dependent now with the only hold out being the USAF which will be over to coal in 2011.
mltdwn
Rususeruru
Posted 5:34 AM 11/10/08
They could start being "Green" by putting a different power plant in the M1A1
Rususeruru
DeusExMach
Posted 6:02 AM 11/10/08
@Ghede: Kind of what I was thinking. If we've got temporal technology, why haven't we sent back the plans for a viable fusion technology, yet?
DeusExMach
DeusExMach
Posted 6:01 AM 11/10/08
@Lite: No. Daisy cutters are the fuses at the end of a BLU-82. They can also be used on a variety of much smaller munitions.
A daisy-cutter has about the same explosive yield as a couple of hand grenades, it's the warhead it is attached to that determines the size of the end explosion.
Also, a nuclear explosion and a conventional munition operate on completely different principals.
DeusExMach
Lite
Posted 6:14 AM 11/10/08
@DeusExMach: The BLU-82 itself is also referred to as a daisy cutter, and has been since it's debut in Vietnam...Not just the fuse assembly.
Most nuclear munitions are typically designed to be air-burst devices that explode above their target, rather than on impact for maximum effectiveness. Then there's the bit where the fuel-air bombs are also referred to as "The Poor Man's Nuke" due to the fact that the explosion created is also mushroom cloud shaped. The BLU-82 isn't a traditional FAE due to the fact that it carries its own oxidizer, but the effect is quite similar.
Lite
EricAlder
Posted 7:02 AM 11/10/08
They could always start using paper tanks.
EricAlder
DeusExMach
Posted 9:34 AM 11/10/08
@Final: Ellsworth Air Force Base, Ellsworth Drive speed limit: 35 mph.
Depends on the base.
DeusExMach
peetar
Posted 9:27 AM 11/10/08
The M1 uses an avco-lycoming Gas Turbine that produces 1500 HP. It weighs over 70 tons. Maybe you don't realize that the gas mileage it gets is actually pretty good for its weight and the fact that it can do 70plus MPH. :)
I think the military should not be concerned with a "green" agenda or the groupthink of the modern day troglodite agenda du jour. They should be concerned with kicking arse and doing it efficiently.
The M1 certainly does this:)
peetar
DeusExMach
Posted 9:22 AM 11/10/08
@Lite: Common colloquialism from a civilian perspective does not equate to the actual parliance that spawned the term from a military or technical perspective.
As a former Munitions troop with the US Air Force, I've gotta say I've got the professional edge when it comes to proving my point.
Daisy-cutter is not a bomb. It's a fuse. Calling the Big Blooie a daisy-cutter may sound cool, but it's wrong. Your original point was that an ICBM is a Daisy-cutter "writ large," which it is not.
An atmospheric fission reaction is not the same as a conventional Air-burst munition, because it relies on a critical-mass implosion to generate a shockwave instead of a purely chemically-driven detonation. The effects are completely different, based on the source materials involved. If I were to throw a daisy cutter at you, and you were behind a concrete wall, you'd be fine. Different story if I were to drop the Big Blooey on you from the back of a c-5, or launch an ICBM, which actually contains several MIRV warheads, each with the destructive power of several Blooies.
...they do make a pretty flower-pattern on re-entry, though.
DeusExMach