Up periscope! Green future in sight for U.S. Navy

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Yesterday the Pentagon issued a press release lauding the U.S. military’s commitment to pursuing a clean energy initiative to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

Speaking at the American Council on Renewable Energy, Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, talked about all three services’ “impressive” green strategy, but singled out the Navy for particular merit.

“Each of the services has a very impressive approach,” said Robyn. “The Navy got out there first. The Navy, of course, has been doing geothermal for many years.”

Robyn went on to explain that, “China Lake is a 270-megawatt geothermal plant that has been operating since 1987. The Navy has been taking advantage of [U.S. Code] 2922A authority – power purchase authority.

“We are the only agency that can use that authority for up to 30 years,” Robyn continued. “That authority originally had to go up to [Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta] for approval. It’s now been delegated to me, so I now sign off on these projects.”

In short, the department dealing with environmental issues is now, if not more powerful in de facto, then at least more influential in de jure.

That’s good then; a step in the right direction towards a greener future anyway. But let’s be pragmatic. As the single largest user of energy in the United States, spending $4 billion a year to power its 300,000 buildings and 2.2 billion square feet of space, the DoD is clearly in the crosshairs of green campaigners, so not making a public show of its progress would be, at the very least, ill-advised.

“We are … the largest energy user in the country,” Robyn reminds us. “We have a big bill, even by DOD standards, because we have such a large built infrastructure. We have three times more building space even than Wal-Mart.”

The Great Green Fleet: Navy leads from the front

Going some way to demonstrate the government’s commitment to ‘go green’, the U.S. Navy announced on Monday that it was procuring its largest ever consignment of biofuel; some 450,000 gallons at a cost of $12 million.

This follows last month’s 17 hour trial conducted on the Navy’s last remaining Spruance-class warship, the USS Paul F. Foster, which was fuelled by a 50:50 mix of biofuel and diesel. This is all part of the Navy’s plan to create a ‘Great Green Fleet’ by 2016, a fleet of warships and submarines that are powered entirely by biofuel.

Last week the DoD explained that it is seeking to boost its use of alternative fuels.

“Military operations are a fairly energy-intense undertaking, and energy security is particularly important to our ability to project military power and to protect the nation,” said Edward Thomas Morehouse Jr., Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs. “The availability of those transportation fuels is particularly critical,” Morehouse said. “Of all of the consumables, of all the commodities that we use in the Department of Defense, … energy and fuel have a particular [functionality].”

This is of particular relevance to the Navy, which consumes a significant portion of the DoDs entire fuel outlay. With 2003 as a baseline, the USMC has been tasked with reducing its energy intensity 30% by 2015. So any discussion involving the future of surface warships must now consider the role and impact of environmental issues.

Seeing green: Money and clean energy

With a defence budget containing more “0’s” in it than can fit on one line of text here, some may see this as merely a splash in the water. In reality, the procurement of 450,000 gallons of fuel is just a splash in the water compared the DoDs purchase of diesel. At $26/gallon biofuel it’s roughly 5x the cost of regular diesel. At this time of economic woe, not to mention the pressures pertaining from the advancement of Navies such as China and India that are encroaching on America’s dominance of the seas, is this sort of expense feasible? In the short- or medium-term, arguably not.

That said, the cost of biofuel has halved since 2009. And the Senate recently passed a $662 billion authorization bill for 2012, which includes a $17.5 billion chunk for defence programs overseen by the Department of Energy. So while it may be a distant goal, looking through the Navy's periscope you can see that green future on the horizon.

(Photo: Ben Onderwater)

Contributor:   Andrew Elwell

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Andrew graduated from The University of Nottingham with an MA in History in 2003. After graduating Andrew started his career with a niche armour systems manufacturer, which provided ballisitic and blast armour products for the international defence market. His first major undertaking was to project manage a UOR up-armour programme for an in-theatre MoD vehicle. After completion of the contract, Andrew headed up the research and development department at the company. This involved designing, developing, testing and presenting new armour solutions to defeat customer specific threats to all major European and International ballistic and blast standards.

Following this Andrew moved behind the desk and became Senior Editor at a news and data provider, offering proprietary analysis, intelligence, market research and data on the global security and defence industry. The role offered the chance to write widely on the industry, exploring new technologies and getting to grips with corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity fundraisings.

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