Old Rocks
Diamond Member
The Tyee – Idea #1: The Green Hawks Are Coming
Zilmer argued that green power could reduce "the number of convoys while providing an additional capability to outlying bases ...with photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines."
The request stunned a lot of officers. "When did our Marines become Birkenstock wearing tree huggers," thought Col. Dan Nolan at the Pentagon's Rapid Equipping Force. But when the engineer realized it was all about saving lives and reducing the size of the military's energy tail, he devised some novel solutions.
Green gear
For starters, the military insulated tents with foam to reduce the demand for diesel generators to run air conditioners. (The military earned back the $95-million investment in fuel savings in just six months.) The army also brought in solar panels. Not only did the green forward operating bases save lives but the reforms halved fossil fuel demand, too.
(Nolan recently retired and now works for Sabot 6, an energy efficiency group, and contributes to a sharp blog on energy use in the military.)
As the green revolution took hold among the officer corps, the Department of Defense (DOD) began to review its startling oil vulnerabilities with a 2008 document called More Fight Less Fuel, a rewrite of 2001 Defense Science Board's largely ignored, More Capable Warfighting Through Reduced Fuel Burden.
Zilmer argued that green power could reduce "the number of convoys while providing an additional capability to outlying bases ...with photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines."
The request stunned a lot of officers. "When did our Marines become Birkenstock wearing tree huggers," thought Col. Dan Nolan at the Pentagon's Rapid Equipping Force. But when the engineer realized it was all about saving lives and reducing the size of the military's energy tail, he devised some novel solutions.
Green gear
For starters, the military insulated tents with foam to reduce the demand for diesel generators to run air conditioners. (The military earned back the $95-million investment in fuel savings in just six months.) The army also brought in solar panels. Not only did the green forward operating bases save lives but the reforms halved fossil fuel demand, too.
(Nolan recently retired and now works for Sabot 6, an energy efficiency group, and contributes to a sharp blog on energy use in the military.)
As the green revolution took hold among the officer corps, the Department of Defense (DOD) began to review its startling oil vulnerabilities with a 2008 document called More Fight Less Fuel, a rewrite of 2001 Defense Science Board's largely ignored, More Capable Warfighting Through Reduced Fuel Burden.
