Posts
As the power companies fight over the tax payers money and the politicians side with them, more and more carbon is pumped into the atmosphere. In a post a few days ago I saw that the scientists said that if we continue to pump as much carbon into the atmosphere as we did last year that the desired mark of only a couple of degrees increase wouldn't be reachable and that we need to do something quick.
It is nice to see that the military is making such strides in breaking their dependency on foreign countries for fuel. The Air Force tested Algae Fuel for a while and recently the Airlines have been approved to use it.
"...as the military market for renewables expands, technology will improve and become cheaper and more practical for use in the private sector. The more renewable energy power we use and the sooner we start using it, they say, the faster we will move away from entanglements with unstable oil-producing nations."
Udall-Giffords Security Act would bolster military drive to go green
Colorado U.S. Senator Mark Udall Wednesday unveiled an updated version of the Energy Security Act he worked with Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to introduce last year. The bill aims to boost increasing military efforts to move away from dependence on fossil fuels.
“Osama bin Laden reportedly called our fuel convoys the military’s ‘umbilical cord.’ We risk the lives of thousands of troops each year because of our dependence on fossil fuel in theater and at home,” Udall said. “We owe it to our troops and the American people to find ways to use energy smarter and more efficiently.”
In a release, Udall said the cost in blood is paired with enormous financial outlays. The military spends $20 billion a year on energy, consuming 135 million barrels of oil and 30 million megawatt-hours of electricity.
No time for politics
In fact, as Udall points out, Capitol Hill lags on the issue. The Pentagon move toward renewable energy has been characterized in the last half-decade by an urgency that doesn’t tolerate usual U.S. energy politics and congressional dithering.
With an annual budget in the hundreds of billions, the military makes its own markets for all kinds of products and services, and energy is no different. Military leaders have simply decided they need to use renewables and have begun ordering technology, circumventing fraught Capitol Hill stand-offs on climate change and turf battles over whether taxpayers should be subsidizing this or that energy-industry sector.
National security analysts underline the added benefit that comes of the military push, pointing out that, as the military market for renewables expands, technology will improve and become cheaper and more practical for use in the private sector. The more renewable energy power we use and the sooner we start using it, they say, the faster we will move away from entanglements with unstable oil-producing nations.
No comments:
Post a Comment