Alternative Energy Finds a New Ally... The US Military?

Yes, it's true. Alternative energy has found a very unlikely ally in the US military. While I never thought about it this way before, it actually makes perfect sense. A military needs an enormous amount of fuel to sustain itself, and getting that fuel to remote places where our troops need it is not only costly and inefficient, but extremely dangerous. After all, few things provide better targets than giant tankers filled with highly flammable liquid.

It turns out that the military has been aware of this problem for some time, but it took two big events to really underscore just how serious the problem was. The first was Hurricane Katrina, which caused a small increase in the price of a barrel of oil, but made a HUGE difference in the Department of Defense's operating budget. The second was a 2006 “Priority 1” request for emergency battlefield supplies from Marine Corps Major General Richard Zilmer. He requested “a self-sustainable energy solution,” including “solar panels and wind turbines,” to help prevent the men under his command from “[remaining] unnecessarily exposed” and “continue[ing] to accrue preventable ... serious and grave casualties.”

Since then, the military has started some serious alternative energy R&D, some of which might even have civilian applications (read: really awesome cars and clothes). While the total budget is still just a tiny fraction of the Pentagons overall spending (they expect to spend $1 billion this year), that kind of money is nothing to sneeze at.

I can't believe I am saying this but... rock on DOD?

For more information, check out this solid article on Grist.