QUICK NEWS, 11-11: A GREENING MILITARY; SOLAR FOR ARMY RUCKSACKS; WAVES GIVE NAVY SECURITY; NAVY PICKS A BIOFUEL

A GREENING MILITARY
U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels
Elisabeth Rosenthal, October 4, 2010 (NY Times)

"With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels…[The 150 Marines of Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines,] from California arrived in the rugged outback of Helmand Province bearing novel equipment: portable solar panels that fold up into boxes; energy-conserving lights; solar tent shields that provide shade and electricity; solar chargers for computers and communications equipment…[They] will be the first to take renewable technology into a battle zone, where the new equipment will [be tested as a replacement for] diesel and kerosene-based fuels that would ordinarily generate power to run their encampment.

"…After a decade of waging wars in remote corners of the globe where fuel is not readily available, senior commanders have come to see over dependence on fossil fuel as a big liability, and renewable technologies — which have become more reliable and less expensive over the past few years — as providing a potential answer…[Renewables] now account for only a small percentage of the power used by the armed forces, but military leaders plan to rapidly expand their use over the next decade."

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"In Iraq and Afghanistan, the huge truck convoys that haul fuel to bases have been sitting ducks for enemy fighters…In Iraq and Afghanistan, one Army study found, for every 24 fuel convoys that set out, one soldier or civilian engaged in fuel transport was killed. In the past three months, six Marines have been wounded guarding fuel runs in Afghanistan…[Fossil fuel accounts for 30 to 80 percent of the load in convoys into Afghanistan, bringing costs as well as risk. While the military buys gas for just over $1 a gallon, getting that gallon to some forward operating bases costs $400]…

"[Fuel destined for American troops in landlocked Afghanistan is shipped to Karachi, Pakistan, where it is loaded on convoys of 50 to 70 vehicles for transport to central bases. Smaller convoys branch out to the forward lines. The Marines’ new goal is to make the more peripheral sites sustain themselves with the kind of renewable technology carried by Company I, since solar electricity can be generated right on the battlefield… The renewable technology that will power Company I costs about $50,000 to $70,000; a single diesel generator costs several thousand dollars. But when it costs hundreds of dollars to get each gallon of traditional fuel to base camps in Afghanistan, the investment is quickly defrayed]…"

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"Ray Mabus, the Navy secretary and a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia…wants 50 percent of the power for the Navy and Marines to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. That figure includes energy for bases as well as fuel for cars and ships…He and other experts…[have] said that greater reliance on renewable energy improved national security, because fossil fuels often came from unstable regions and scarce supplies were a potential source of international conflict…[M]ilitary leaders can simply order the adoption of renewable energy. And the military has the buying power to create products and markets. That, in turn, may make renewable energy more practical and affordable for everyday uses, experts say…Last year, the Navy introduced its first hybrid vessel, a Wasp class amphibious assault ship called the U.S.S. Makin Island…The Air Force will have its entire fleet certified to fly on biofuels by 2011 and has already flown test flights using a 50-50 mix of plant-based biofuel and jet fuel…

"Concerns about the military’s dependence on fossil fuels in far-flung battlefields began in 2006 in Iraq, where Richard Zilmer, then a major general and the top American commander in western Iraq, sent an urgent cable to Washington suggesting that renewable technology could prevent loss of life. That request catalyzed new research, but the pressure for immediate results magnified as the military shifted its focus to Afghanistan, a country with little available native fossil fuel and scarce electricity outside cities…Because the military has moved into renewable energy so rapidly, much of the technology currently being used is commercially available or has been adapted for the battlefield from readily available civilian models…Much more is in the testing stages…"


SOLAR FOR ARMY RUCKSACKS
Powering the Military with ‘Game-Changing’ Solar Tech
September 3, 2010 (Mil-Tech)

"…According to Tony Bui, an engineer with the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC (located at Fort Monmouth, NJ), newly developed renewable energy devices will give U.S. troops more mobility, allow them to stay in the field longer, and protect the average soldier from exposure…

"The first [game-changing technology] is called REPPS (the Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System). Made up of flexible solar photovoltaic (PV) panels rated at 62 watts, it represents a continuous, portable power generation system that can be used to keep laptops and similarly sized electronics running in the field."

REPPS (the Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System)

"Charging can be done in five or six hours. For larger items – that is, larger than a laptop and smaller than a Jeep – REPPS units can be chain-ganged to deliver even more electricity, thanks to integrated power conversion technologies."

RENEWS (Reusing Existing Natural Wind and Solar system)

"Another system, called RENEWS (Reusing Existing Natural Wind and Solar system), marries solar and wind energy and integrates inverter technology to allow soldiers to connect to the device through AC/DC (alternating or direct current) outlets…Because the device also incorporates battery storage of electricity, RENEWS needs the combined muscle of two soldiers to transport. Even so, it provides all the electricity needed to power communications and surveillance equipment, even in the boonies, where vehicle- and grid power often aren’t available.

"Both are still in development, but thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA; 2009), 700 REPPS and 125 RENEWS will soon be headed to the troops in Afghanistan…"


WAVES GIVE NAVY SECURITY
Wave Energy Powers Maritime Security
Peter Danko, October 11, 2010 (EarthTechling)

"Ocean Powers Technologies (OPT)… recently announced the first buoy-to-grid connection in the United States, bringing wave power ashore at a Marine Corps base in Hawaii. And now it has been awarded $2.75 million to move into the second stage of work providing power for a near-coast anti-terrorism and maritime surveillance program off the New Jersey coast.

"The New Jersey project is part of the Navy’s Littoral Expeditionary Autonomous PowerBuoy (LEAP) program. A key difference with the Hawaii project is that the goal is to provide non-grid connected wave power at sea. OPT said this project entails combining a number of technologies, including at-sea sensors, communications, real-time signal processing and their PowerBuoy — the device that actually gathers energy from waves — with the ultimate aim of developing a self powering vessel detection system."

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"In the first phase of the project, OPT delivered the design for the project and tested a new power take-off system for the autonomous PowerBuoy…[It was] a major step toward developing a LEAP-based vessel detection system. In the next stage, running for a year, OPT will actually build and ocean-test the system."

[Charles Dunleavy, OPT:] “Over a numbers of years, the US Navy has provided key funding to OPT for the development of our core PowerBuoy technology. This has provided the platform from which we have developed our autonomous PowerBuoy, as well as our 150 kilowatt-rated utility PowerBuoys now being built in Oregon and Scotland.”


NAVY PICKS A BIOFUEL
Cobalt Technologies and U.S. Navy to Jointly Develop Military Jet Fuel; Research Underway to Convert Biobutanol into Full Performance Jet Fuel
November 3, 2010 (Cobalt Technologies)

"…Cobalt Technologies, the leader in commercializing biobutanol as a renewable chemical and fuel, announced the signature of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Navy to develop technology for the conversion of biobutanol into full performance jet and diesel fuels.

"Under the CRADA, n-biobutanol produced by Cobalt will be converted to bio-jet and biodiesel fuels using technology developed at the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) in China Lake, CA. The result will be a complete substitute for military and civilian jet fuel, meeting all applicable specifications. In addition, Cobalt will have an option to obtain an exclusive license to commercialize process improvements, made under the CRADA, for the production of all military and civilian transportation fuels…"

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"The U.S. Navy has set a high priority on the development of cost-effective and sustainable domestic sources of fuels and has several initiatives in place to increase its use of biofuels, while decreasing its carbon-footprint and dependence on foreign petroleum. By collaborating with the Navy scientists who have expertise in converting biobutanol to bio-jet and biodiesel fuels, Cobalt Technologies is well positioned to demonstrate and implement a large-scale process for generating sustainable and renewable fuel for both military and commercial use…

"Under the CRADA, a team of scientists from Cobalt and the NAWCWD will investigate the optimum conditions for the conversion of Cobalt’s n-biobutanol into jet fuel, while ensuring the process minimizes time, cost and energy consumption. More specifically, the combined team will optimize dehydration chemistry for the conversion of bio-n-butanol to 1-butene, followed by oligomerization of the biobutene into jet fuel, based on a process developed at NAWCWD."

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"Additional work will focus on converting the biobutanol into butyl ether, which the NAWCWD has shown can be mixed with n-butanol and other compounds to create a viable drop-in diesel fuel replacement.

"This CRADA with Cobalt Technologies is made possible by the U.S. Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, which allows private organizations to access the expertise, capabilities and technologies of U.S. Federal laboratories to improve the economic, environmental and social well-being of the United States…"