Navy to fly jets fueled by algae, oilseed crop

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/2171431.html

Navy to (test) fly jets fueled by algae, oilseed crop

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press Writer
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 9, 2009 - 4:44 pm

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The U.S. Navy plans to fly fighter jets and run ship engines powered by "biofuels" made from algae and oilseeds - part of a fledgling effort to reduce the military's dependence on imported fossil fuels.

For the last several years, the military has conducted test flights using synthetic jet fuels derived from coal and natural gas.

Now the effort is being expanded to include fuels from algae and the oilseed crop camelina, which is grown primarily in arid parts of Montana.

Military biofuels contracts worth more than $11 million were awarded recently to Solazyme of San Francisco and Sustainable Oils of Bozeman, Mont.

…

[Captain Hilts]

1. Excellent!

[jwirr]

2. That is all we need in this world. A military that has an alternative

fuel when all of the rest of us are out of oil. Long live the Empire. (Sarcasm)

[Aviation Pro]

3. DARPA has been working with NREL and a whole host....

...of other government and private organizations on the JP-8 drop in replacement for the last decade or so. It also extends to civilan aviation and the process of gasification has been around since the 1920s (Fischer Tropsch formula is a derivative of the gasification process).

[joshcryer]

6. The militaries of the world never were going to have a problem with peak fossil!

Whole empires exist simply because of military prowess.

[TankLV]

4. I thought it was METHANE from all the REPUKE BULLSHIT!

I mean - it's FREE and ABUNDANT!!!

guess I was wrong...

[NickB79]

5. Well, I know I'll sleep better tonight!

Knowing that in the future, despite the millions of dead from climate change and the destruction of the planet's major ecosystems, the US military will still be able to blow up villages full of little brown people :sarcasm:

[joshcryer]

7. This is exactly why anyone who believes in peak oil yet doesn't seek alternatives for everyone...

...we are simply looking at mass genocide when it does run out (if those alternatives are not in place). It's despicable.

[joshcryer]

8. I can see it now: future militaries dumping iron into the oceans to produce blooms, then...

...scooping it up to produce fuel. Any animals that get caught ni the scoops, oh well. Grind 'em up and process 'em. (I know that the article isn't necessarily talking about this particular method, it's just an image I got after reading the article.)

Happy ecosystem that'll be.