Lance Cpl. Kelly R. Chase/U.S. Marine Corps, Released
Navy Secretary Mabus said transporting fuel and water by convoy is not only economically and environmentally costly, but also takes war-fighters away from their primary mission.
WASHINGTON — The military views climate change and energy dependence as strategic security risks and is acting broadly within its own operations to counter them, according to a report published Tuesday.
The Pew Project on Security, Energy and Climate overview highlights the immensity of the armed services’ energy needs and some of the efforts under way across the services to reduce them.
This report comes two months after the Quadrennial Defense Review Report officially recognized climate change as a national security risk.
“As we as a country look at energy policies and energy goals, I think it is important to remember that one of the primary reasons for doing this is energy independence,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. “We think that this is one of America’s big strategic imperatives – to reduce our reliance on foreign sources of fossil energy to make us better war-fighters.”
The Department of Defense is the largest government energy user, consuming more than 300,000 barrels of oil a day. In 2008, the department’s energy budget was $20 billion, though that excludes many of the costs associated with delivery, which can be significantly higher in combat zones.
Each of the armed services has begun programs to reduce energy consumption, increase efficiency and shift to alternative fuels. Some efforts are aimed at base infrastructure. For example, the Army has installed a 500 megawatt solar generation station it hopes will make California’s Fort Irwin carbon-neutral within a decade. Others efforts target the combat vehicles themselves. Last year the Navy launched its first hybrid ship, the amphibious assault ship Makin Island, and expects to deploy the Great Green Fleet of ships, submarines and planes powered entirely by biofuels in 2016.
The military has a history of innovating technologies that eventually make their way into the civilian marketplace, as happened with Global Positioning Systems.
“We’re in every climate zone you can imagine. We’ve got every type of building you can imagine,” said Amanda Dory, deputy assistant secretary for defense strategy. “What we would like to advocate is we can serve as a test bed for these new technologies and to provide a good environment to demonstrate how these new energy efficiency strategies and renewable energies can be used.”
The Pew report, which calls for legislative action to curb climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, comes at a moment when proponents of Congressional action are increasingly making the national security argument. The military, however, is clear that its objective is simply to guard the country against what it sees as serious threats.
“The DOD does not have the luxury of waiting for 100 percent certainty before making decisions,” Dory said. “We need to take [climate change] into account in our planning now.”