Report: U.S. military renewable policies need more security focus

Biomass Magazine


By Anna Simet | May 01, 2014


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4 plants receive $17.7 million from DOE for military fuels

Biomass Magazine
By Chris Hanson | April 23, 2013

 

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Back to Biofuels

GenomeWeb The Daily Scan


December 05, 2012

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Military biofuels report prompts urges for congressional support

Biomass Magazine
By Anna Simet
November 14, 2012

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Plans in Congress to kill military biofuels programs could derail $10 billion+ in economic activity

Biofuels Digest
Jim Lane
November 14, 2012   Read more

The Biofueled Military

Genome Web - The Daily Scan
August 28, 2012

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Green Machines

The Daily Scan - Genome Web
July 26, 2012

Nearly 400 retired US military officials signed a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to reconsider plans to prevent the US Navy from conducting research on biofuels or buying alternative fuels that cost more than traditional fuels, reports The Guardian. The proposal was put forth by Congressional Republicans who say that biofuels are too expensive and research into them takes focus away from security needs.

The Navy has shown that it can power jet fighters with a mixture of half conventional fuel and half algae or cooking oil. However, the alternative fuel costs $15 a gallon while the conventional fuel costs $3.60 a gallon.

The retired military officials say that reducing the Department of Defense's, as well as civilians', reliance on fossil fuels is vital to national security. "The Department of Defense should be looking at the widest possible diversity of fuel sources," says John Warner, a former navy secretary and former chair of the Senate armed services committee (R-Va.), to The Guardian. "We should continue to allow the department to move ahead with its innovation."

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RAND says US military cannot reduce biofuels price; should exit development; BIO disagrees

Biofuels Digest
Meghan Sapp
June 20, 2012

In Washington, a new study by the RAND Corporation says that the US military’s petroleum demand of 340,000 barrels per day, compared to global demand of 87 million barrels per day, isn’t large enough of a scale to impact the production cost of biofuels so should therefore stop spending money on more expensive alternative fuels.

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EERC to develop biofuel for US Military

Renewable Energy Focus
29 February 2012
By Kari Williamson

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) will develop alternative liquid fuels, including biofuel, for US military applications under a US$906,000 contract from the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc (CCAT).

The EERC will demonstrate gasification-based technologies for converting non-petroleum feedstocks, such as coal and biomass, into liquid fuels including biofuel. The testing supports CCAT’s work for the US Defense Logistics Agency (US DLA).

The US Military has committed to increase energy security through the utilisation of domestic resources with life cycle CO2 emissions equal to or less than their petroleum-derived counterparts.

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Boeing and Hawai'i BioEnergy to work together on biofuels

Biofuels International
11 November 2011

Boeing has signed an agreement to collaborate with Hawai'i BioEnergy to produce renewable fuels, identify biofuel sources and build new technology.

The companies plan to examine crops including sorghum and eucalyptus for possible biofuel feedstocks – which can be grown locally in Hawaii in order to be produced into jet biofuel.

Boeing vice president of environment and aviation policy, Billy Glover, says: ‘This collaborative effort will allow us to examine potential local options, while protecting the beauty and culture these islands have to offer.’

Because the island has a strong US military presence and at the moment is dependent on importing energy resources, the companies hope that their work can boost the local economy.

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Our troops deserve the support that flows from domestic biofuels, says Gen. Clark

Biofuels Digest
Jim Lane October 19, 2011 9

Consider this: Every time the price of a barrel of imported oil rises one dollar, it costs the Navy $31 million in increased fuel costs. The result is that the military must run fewer operations and complete fewer training exercises.

Our nation imagines itself the most free and secure in the world, yet this statistic clearly identifies America’s reliance on foreign oil as a significant threat to our economy and national security.

We can no longer afford to allow a handful of countries—many controlled by dictators and strongmen—to exert this kind of influence over our military or our economy.

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The Defense Department Is a Significant Driver of New Technology

Biofuels Digest
June 3, 2011
By Brent Erickson, Digest columnist, Executive VP, Industrial Environmental Section, BIO

To carry out military and humanitarian missions around the world, U.S. forces require reliable fuel supplies and secure supply lines. The military is as much at the mercy of high oil and gasoline prices as the average consumer. And, oil often comes from regions of the world that are not U.S. military allies. Energy independence is therefore a national security issue.

U.S. troops, their trucks, ships and airplanes use close to 2 percent of the nation’s energy on an annual basis, making the military a small but significant consumer of fuel. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Defense used about 119 million barrels of oil for fuel.

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Securing Foreign Oil: A Case for Including Military Operations in the Climate Change Impact of Fuels

Biofuels Digest
July 22, 2010
By Brooke Coleman, New Fuels Alliance

Securing Foreign Oil is the title of Adam Liska’s and Richard Perrin’s recent article in Environment Magazine detailing why military emissions should be included in the carbon intensity (CI) values of petroleum fuels. The article was discussed on the New York Times Green blog and will no doubt spark debate about whether we are taking things too far by considering military emissions.

The case for including military emissions in the CI value of petroleum is pretty simple: it is well within the new system boundary recently established by U.S. EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for carbon scoring fuels.

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DARPA official says teams at $2 per gallon algal fuel, headed for $1; 50 Mgy scale by 2011

Biofuels Digest
February 15, 2010

In Washington, the special assistant for energy at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which has been conducting two algal fuels projects, said that “Darpa has achieved the base goal to date. Oil from algae is projected at $2 per gallon, headed towards $1 per gallon.”

Barbara McQuiston told the Guardian that the General Atomics and SAIC-led projects have been recording harvests at more than 1,000 gallons per acre and predicted that large-scale refining, at the 50 Mgy level, would commence as soon as 2011. DARPA is chasing a US military-based goal of obtaining half its fuel from renewable sources by 2016. In Afghanistan, if you could be able to create jet fuel from indigenous sources and rely on that, you’d not only be able to source energy for the military, but you’d also be able to leave an infrastructure that would be more sustainable,” McQuiston told the Guardian.

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Uncle Sam to pond scum: I want you!

Billings Gazette
Jul 3, 12:12 PM EDT
By MIKE STARK
Associated Press Writer

LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- Somewhere among the beakers and the bubbling green-tinged tanks in this Utah State University lab, Jeff Muhs is searching for champion pond scum for Uncle Sam.

If he and others like him around the country are successful, algae-based biofuel could one day power one of the world's biggest gas guzzlers: the U.S. military.

Heady stuff for a simple sun-sucking organism. But algae's ability to grow fast and churn out fatty oils makes it an alluring prospect for a military looking to lessen its dependence on foreign oil.

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