Ships and aircraft are powered using environmentally-friendly energy sources

Jul 20, 2012 13:43 GMT  ·  By

Just this week, the US Navy chose the Pacific Ocean as the proper run-way for its Green Fleet to make its debut. This basically means that military exercises involving ships and aircraft powered by a rather expensive blend of biofuels were carried out in said waters.

For those unaware, the idea to cut down on the Navy's dependence on fossil fuels dates back to the year 2009, when Secretary Ray Mabus announced that the US military is to undergo significant changes as soon as possible.

The end goal was to make it depend more on alternative energy sources.

One might think that this was because American military officials were worried about how the ships and aircraft they were in charge of impacted on the environment.

Quite the contrary: their main drive was trying to rid the Navy of its dependence on foreign oil, as this was considered to be a liability.

Going back to the Green Fleet which just had its first encounter with the Pacific, let us begin by pointing out the fact that its engines can be powered using alternative fuels, nuclear energy or advanced biofuel blends.

Although this might be good news indeed from an environmental standpoint, as fossil fuels will no longer be used and therefore gas emissions will be brought down to a minimum, what worries most people is that the biofuel blend now used to power the Green Fleet apparently costs as much as $26 a gallon (about €21). Clean Techies reports that in order for the US navy to go green, significant sums of money would have to be spent on a yearly basis. Preliminary calculations indicate that overall expenses are likely to amount to $2 billion (approximately €1,6 million).

From where we stand, if the US is to invest in renewable energy sources, perhaps it would be best to invest in greening up other things, and not military equipment.