14 DAY TRIAL // Just recently, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar agreed that a collaboration between their departments is needed so as to guide the US military in its transition from rather obsolete energy sources towards renewables.
Although this decision is bound to benefit the environment, it seems that the main drives behind it are the need to boost energy security and the desire to cut down on utility costs.
Apparently, this partnership will lead to several clean energy plants being built close to various military bases, both on-shore and off-shore.
The official website for the US Department of Defense quotes Secretary Ken Salazar, who supposedly made a case of how, “Our nation’s military lands hold great renewable energy potential, and this partnership will help ensure that we’re tapping into these resources with a smart and focused approach to power our military, reduce energy costs, and grow our nation’s energy independence.”
Backing up this statement, Secretary Leon E. Panetta argued that, “Renewable energy projects built on these lands will provide reliable, local sources of power for military installations; allow for a continued energy supply if the commercial power grid gets disrupted; and will help lower utility costs.”
According to the same source, the Defense Department expects that, by implementing said green-oriented projects, its annual utility bills will drop by as much as $4 billion (about €3.22 billion).
Given the fact that by the year 2025 each of the military services now up and running is supposed to be able to deploy 1 gigawatt of renewable energy, this goal strikes us as rather achievable. Business Green informs us that, in order to make sure things are done as efficiently as possible, the US military will harvest green energy from a wide variety of renewable power sources: solar, wind, geothermal and biomass.
Interestingly enough, this announcement was made just before the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas officially began its series of discussions concerning the future of energy in the US.