Energy usage of the United States military

The United States Department of Defense is one of the largest single consumers of energy in the world, responsible for 93% of all US government fuel consumption in 2007 (Air Force: 52%; Navy: 33%; Army: 7%.

[1] The military recognizes that renewable energy can provide improvements in force safety and budget stability as well as mitigate climate change so it has several programs working on deploying alternative energy at major facilities and in forward operating bases.

Admiral Samuel J. Locklear has called climate change the biggest concern for the United States military.

[4] To meet renewable energy goals, the Air Force plans to certify its entire fleet on coal-to-liquid synthetic fuel blends by 2011.

[9] Strategies include the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery Program, which converts 1 short ton (0.91 t) of waste to 11 US gal (42 L) of JP-8 fuel, a photovoltaic flexible, portable mat, insulating foam technology, hybrid-electric Manned Ground Vehicles (MGV), and highly efficient portable cells.

[5] The Office of Naval Research developed and deployed the Experimental Forward Operating Base (ExFOB), including photovoltaic energy, shelter insulation, small unit water purification, and energy efficient heating, lighting, and cooling.

[16] The Defense Department plans to invest $9 billion to improve energy use in military operations through 2017.

[17] Through the SolarStrong program, a total of 300MW of PV installations were done on 120,000 roofs of base housing throughout the U.S.[18] The 14MW Nellis Solar Power Plant went online in 2007.