Listen to this PodcastMore 60-Second Earth
On April 22nd, Earth Day, the U.S. Navy ran a test flight of an F/A-18 Green Hornet fighter on a 50-50 mixture of petroleum-based jet fuel and biofuel. The biofuel came from the camelina plant, a member of the mustard family. On hand to watch the flight was Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus: “The Navy has always been in the leadership when we’ve changed energy sources. In the 1850s we went from sail to coal. In the early part of the 20th century we went from coal to oil.”
Mabus has committed the Navy to be an early adopter of alternative energy sources. He wants one of the 11 strike groups—an aircraft carrier and its support vessels—to be completely fossil-fuel free by 2016. That effort is as much based in national security as in environmental awareness. After the Green Hornet flight, Mabus said, “Not much of the fuel that we are using in the fleet today or using on our bases today comes from the U.S. We are too dependent on potentially volatile places on Earth for that energy.”
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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3 Comments
Add CommentThere have been several studies, by the forces, about peak oil. I'm sure this move is not so much to reduce dependence on foreign oil, or to lessen the impact on the environment; it's probably also motivated by the fact that crude oil in near or past its peak production. The air force wants to keep flying as oil starts its decline.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe demonstration biofuel cost > 60.00/gal vs. < 2.00/gal for JP5. Having an entire strike group consuming biofuel would put a huge hole in the pentagon budget just for fuel. That lends a new meaning to the word 'unsustainable.'
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe initial cost is higher because the research and development needed to bring it online. The long term cost should be quite a bit lower.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe sad thing is that the USA wastes so much money on unsustainable "green" alternatives such as corn based ethanol when sugar cane, sugar beets or simple grass that grows wild provide a much better return on investment.
When politics are discarded in exchange for real science, then we will see viable alternative energy sources.