The Navy Builds Great Green Fleet
If you were able to see America as she was back in the 1860's
, you would see a simple country where transportation was much slower and more dangerous.
A new form of transportation was spreading the country like wildfire. They called it a "railroad".
The idea of a set of rails and wooden ties that would connect the east to the west was simply unfathomable for most, but for some it was not only possible, but profitable as well.
Communication was revolutionized also as the telegraph was invented within the same time frame. The term millionaire became widely adopted during this period.
In the 1970's, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, (DARPA), made compelling discoveries while trying to improve digital communications during wartime and the internet was born.
In practically every major advancement weve experienced, the US military has had a pioneering role. Just as the railroad and telegraph was in the 1860s and the internet was in the 1970s, the quest for clean energy and alternative fuels is today.
If you want some positive proof as to the direction our nation is headed, simply take a look at our military.
The largest consumer of fuel in our government is the US military. In 2007, the Department Of Defense spent some $12.5 billion on jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline in Afghanistan and Iraq alone. That equates to over $4 million per day.
These figures are nowhere near complete as they do not include Navy ships and aircraft, military sealifts, mobility commands, contractors, aerial refueling, and the fuel burned in transporting delivered fuel.
With these kind of expenses continuing to rise, the military is constrained to find alternative fuel sources for its vehicles.
Protecting fuel supply lines is a most perilous task which our soldiers must constantly face.
This potentially hazardous situation has prompted the Pentagon to take major preventative steps.
The US Army has planned to cut their oil consumption by 11 million gallons annually with the introduction of a fleet of some 4,000 electrically powered vehicles.
Army bases across the country are being equipped with solar panels and wind turbines and their goal is to become completely electrically self-sufficient in the near future.
The mid-western company, Iowa Thin Film Technologies, has been working with the US Army to incorporate thin flexible solar panels that can be layered on the top of tents or rolled up into a backpack and provide a portable source of energy.
The US Air Force is now the largest buyer of clean energy within the Federal Government and has 37 of its bases equipped with renewable energy resources.
The US Navy plans to launch its Great Green Fleet in 2016, a spin-off of Roosevelts Great White Fleet in 1907, which will consist of ships and submarines powered by nuclear or bio-fuels, and fighter jets that are fully bio-fueled.
The Navy also plans to convert 50,000 of its commercial vehicles to hybrid electric power by the end of 2015.
The Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, was very convincing when he spoke at the Naval Energy Forum in McLean, Virginia. He stated that some modifications would be made with regard to their system by which contracts were awarded, to give companies that offer the most energy efficient products more consideration. Were going to hold industry contractually accountable for meeting energy targets and system efficiency requirements. Well also use the overall energy efficiency and the energy footprint of a competing company as an additional factor in acquisition decisions, Mabus said.
As history has recorded the transformations our nation has been blessed to receive, we should never take for granted the role our military has played in the process.
In fact, we should realize the benefits and take advantage of its efforts. Learn to share them with our friends and family as often as possible.
by: Thomas Hayes
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