Green Tech for a Green Fleet
Last month, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus committed to making the US Navy a “green fleet” – by 2020, 50% of all energy consumed by the USN will be supplied by renewable energy sources. To that end the Navy will expand its use of hybrid vehicles, solar and wind, and perhaps even pave the way for a new biofuel technology to hit world markets.
California company Biodiesel Industries has developed a transportable biodiesel refinery. The ARIES system converts biomass – plant sources, food waste – into usable liquid diesel fuel. ClimateWire expounds:
At full size, the ARIES device would be about the size of a basketball court, ready for packaging into a container and shipped — whether to sea with the Navy or to a rural area that is off the grid. How it works: Users add biomass that is both available to them and compatible with the system. Within eight hours, ARIES converts it to biodiesel, storing it in tall cisterns. The device can yield millions of gallons of biodiesel each year.”
As the world’s single largest consumer of diesel fuel…the U.S. Navy is on the lookout for energy solutions it can carry to sea — and that cut its greenhouse gas emissions. So far, the Navy likes what it sees: In August, it declared the prototype a success.”
ARIES could be used on US military bases worldwide, saving money and reducing emissions. And in Iraq and Afghanistan, ARIES would save not just cost, but lives – the Pentagon recently revealed that transporting a single gallon of gasoline to troops in Afghanistan costs $400. Lumbering fuel convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan are also notoriously easy targets for insurgents, requiring huge sums to protect and suffering frequent casualties. With ARIES and other sustainable, portable energy generation systems, war zone bases could dramatically cut back on imported fuel – saving the lives and resources lost to fossil fuel transport.
Most 20th century American technological innovations – satellites, mobile phones, the internet – hit commercial markets after being funded and refined by our friendly neighborhood DoD. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that the biggest hits in 21st century green technology will be – for now at least – camo green.
