SOLDIERS AND COPS GO ALTERNATIVE

Don't you love it when DoD is buyin'?
Commanders in Iraq Urgently Request Renewable Power Options
23 August 2006, (Defense Industry Daily)
- On July 25, 2006, Al-Anbar commander and U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer submitted an MNF-W priority 1 request pointing to the hazards inherent in American supply lines, and noted that many of the supply convoys on Iraq's roads (up to 70%, by some studies) are carrying fuel. Much of that fuel isn't even for vehicles - it's for diesel generators used to generate power at US bases et. al. In response, the document requests alternative energy solutions to power US forward operating bases... and the US military looks like it will act on the request.

- Zilmer's request is believed to be the first formal request [for alternative energy solutions] from a front-line commander. Not to mention the first formal request that acknowledges the security dimension of alternative energy sources in response to the growth of "systempunkt" terrorism and the non-linear battlefield. This is also an issue of cost, and reports indicate that foresighted CIA venture funding has even produced a front-runner for the coming contracts...
- The request reportedly calls for 183 renewable energy systems of various power capacities. More than anything else, however, Zilmer's letter is about changing assumptions...Amory Lovins, who advises a Defense Science Board panel on fuel efficiency, was quoted by Defense News as saying that the Pentagon's fuel cost calculations have traditionally been based on wholesale prices, and have not taken into account the actual cost of delivering it to front-line units...
- The US military's research and engineering director John Young has reportedly commissioned a task force on energy efficiency and renewable fuels...Meanwhile, in Iraq, the emerging conclusion is that one of the best ways to reduce casualties on the roads is to reduce the number of vehicles forced to use them...

- "As we transfer control to the Iraqis, the addition of renewable and self-sustainable energy at the outlying bases will enable the Iraqis to operate independently, lessening the need for coalition forces to provide future logistics support...."
- Zilmer's document encloses a list of requirements a successful renewable energy system fielded to Iraq must be able to satisfy, and Iraq's and Afghanistan's climates certainly make solar power a very strong option...the ability to operate in climates from cold to tropical and wet to dry is an obvious need...the usual military requirements of transportability and storage enter in...
- Zilmer's request singles out the Mobile Power System (MPS), a containerized solution built by SkyBuilt Power...SkyBuilt may well face competition from military contracting veterans like Boeing, whose Spectrolab subsidiary just won a project in Australia which also aims to provide renewable, high-output solar power to far-flung communities...
And:
Met Police buys hybrids
Tue 22 Aug, 2006 (Reuters)

- The Metropolitan Police has placed Britain's biggest ever order for hybrid cars.
It is leasing 117 Honda Civic hybrids for community support officers to use as part of its safer neighbourhoods scheme...Stuart Middleton, the Metropolitan Police's director of transport services, said the hybrids would help "meet police requirements and at the same time fulfill social responsibility to try and make our fleet of vehicles as green as possible. The police, like many other like-minded people, want to do their bit."
Why wouldn’t they? They’re the ones fighting the terrorists who are funded by oil money.