Holy crap, did you know that your average U.S. soldier in Iraq uses 88 AA bateries during a five day mission!?! The U.S. Military blows through 2.4 million gallons of fuel every day in Iraq and Afghanistan and 2/3 of the stuff soldiers carry in combat is fuel.
All political issues aside, that is a terribly inefficient way to run an army. The military needs to get way more aggressive about embracing renewable energy. Soldiers, missions, and equipment would be more flexible; you would eliminate the need for a lot of convoy driving, which would save lives, equipment, and money; and a whole lotta pollution would be kept from the air.
I’m pragmatic about the world we live in and see the need for our nation to have a strong and kickass military. I have major problems with how it’s been abused by the Bush administration, but that aside- the U.S. Military has gotta be badass.
So why not do it in a way that is smart. Dump a ton of military R&D funds into advancing solar, wind, and thermal energy generation technology. Get advanced solar panels on top of every vehicle, develop panels that can be sewn into uniforms, and build single unit small scale energy power stations that use wind and solar. Consumers will feel the technology overflow love and the whole effort to green up this world will be that much further along.
Swing over to Mother Jones for to read more about the Military’s work to green itself up, also a quick post about how much of an energy hog the military is at the Seattle pi.
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Noelle dEstries
Noelle d'Estries, an early GO employee who took on the varied roles of Community Manager, green celebrity blogger, and more. She currently runs worstcookever.com GO entered Noelle's life in February 2007 while she was burning tires in her backyard. A phone call from the green gods at GO, burnt out the fires. Now, Noelle happily wears her GO sweatshirt while eating organic veggies and asking for paper, not plastic. A regular at the local farmer's market, Noelle shuns raking leaves and lawn maintenance, while making gourmet foods constantly. When not staring at her computer screen, she spends time with her equally attractive dog, Tessa, cat, Tim and lover Paul. She currently holds all three point records at RIT and could eat avocados and drink wine for the rest of her life.
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