Surging price of oil forces US military to seek alternative energy sources

[defendandprotect]

Surging price of oil forces US military to seek alternative energy sources

Fiscal reality is dawning as US jets and warships trial alternative fuels in bid to end military's costly dependence on oil

• US navy completes successful test on boat powered by algae

John Vidal guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 October 2010 08.52 BST Article history

It's a secret just how much oil the US military uses, but estimates range from around 400,000 barrels a day in peacetime – almost as much as Greece – to 800,000 barrels a day at the height of the Iraq war.This puts a single nation's armed forces near Australia as an oil consumer and among the top 25 countries in the world today.

Either way it is by far the world's largest single buyer of oil and the last thing any admiral, general or under secretary of defence has had to be been concerned about is whether there's gas in the tanks or that the navy's carbon emissions are a bit extravagant.

But there are signs of change. Every $10 rise in the price of oil costs the gas-guzzling US air force around an extra $600m each year. Just keeping one US soldier in Afghanistan with the world price of oil at $80 a barrel now costs hundreds of dollars a day in fuel alone. And because the US as a country imports more than $300bn worth of oil a year, fiscal reality is dawning. The US military spent around $8bn in 2004 on fuel, and probably twice that last year. Surging world fuel prices are likely to put the brakes on the US oil war machine as much as political opposition.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/oct/28/oil-us-military-biofuels


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the military's $20bn a year spend on oil and other energy must be reconsidered.

If Nature can't save us from the disasters of war, perhaps accounts can?


:nuke:

[Radical Activist]

1. DoD has opposed some wind farms

for reasons that sound ridiculous and superstitious. Hopefully they're changing their attitudes.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Radical Activist]

8. Wind farms in the US are being built now with zero subsidies.

It's coal and nuclear that rely on heavy subsidies. I don't know where you heard your rumors but it's not true in the US.

[defendandprotect]

10. ... but we bail out banks - and Wall Street -- and subsidize new nuclear power plants!!

Really terrible -- immoral --

[defendandprotect]

6. Interesting ... why would DOD be taking any stand on wind farms???

That sounds weird!

:)

[Radical Activist]

9. It is weird.

There have been claims about disrupting radar or flight patterns. It's ridiculous.

[defendandprotect]

11. Agree ... sounds "suspicious" ....

[Lagomorph]

16. Just a guess, but...

They might not want them near their training areas. I expect wind farms are huge off limits areas.

[defendandprotect]

18. Well, up is down ... think it would be healthier to restrict the MIC rather than wind farms....!!

Let's get the MIC out of our lives -- let's see, we only need them to close

700-800 overseas bases?

[lonestarnot]

2. Always the bottom line, that dough.

[rucky]

15. That's what it's going to take, I'm afraid.

If we weren't subsidizing fossil fuels, it would already be happening on a large scale. But with the subsidies, the ROI just isn't there.

[DJ13]

3. Surging price of oil forces US military to seek alternative ...

Tell me about it, no COLA for me 2 straight years, no pay increase for my wife for 2 straight years and things get tighter and tighter.

[charlie]

4. $20 billion? Hah.

One year ago:

The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan.

The statistic is likely to play into the escalating debate in Congress over the cost of a war that entered its ninth year last week.

Pentagon officials have told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee a gallon of fuel costs the military about $400 by the time it arrives in the remote locations in Afghanistan where U.S. troops operate.
...

The Marines in Afghanistan, for example, reportedly run through some 800,000 gallons of fuel a day. That reflects the logistical challenges of running the counterinsurgency operations but also the need for fuel during the extreme weather conditions in Afghanistan — hot summers and freezing winters.

With the military boosting the number of the all-terrain-mine resistant ambush-protected vehicles (M-ATVs) in Afghanistan meant to survive roadside bombs, the fuel consumption will likely rise even higher, since those vehicles are considered gas-guzzlers.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/63407-400gallon-gas-another-cost-of-war-in-afghanistan

$320,000,000 a day in Afghanistan alone.

[phasma ex machina]

23. It's only money and the powers-that-be can print all of the greenbacks they need to fund their

Military Industrial Complex.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[uppityperson]

12. Do you seriously expect any of us to listen to you?

[Hardrada]

13. Good.

[Lagomorph]

14. Last time I looked...

Oil was down to $82 a barrel. It's been much higher for most of the war years.

[defendandprotect]

19. It's risen from $70 a barrel to $82 ....

[taterguy]

17. Dude, it's 438 billion a year for military fuel

I heard Thom Hartmann say the military uses 80% of the oil.

US uses 19 million barrels per day.

19 million X 80% X $80 (current price of oil) X 365 = 438 billion.

But who's counting?

:shrug:

[defendandprotect]

20. Wait ....

did you actually hear Thom Hartmann say that -- like 6 weeks ago?

I'm pretty sure I heard him say that, but it's been contested by someone here --

If YOU personally heard it -- great! I agree.

If you picked it up from me -- I think we need further confirmation.

:)

[taterguy]

21. I heard it from someone who heard it from someone

What more confirmation do you need?

[defendandprotect]

22. I'm with you ... but then again ....

since I know I was one of the DU sources, I am trying to find out --

From now on, when I pick up something like that, I'm going to keep a list of the

comment and where I heard it!

Someone asked me a while ago about this quote ....

"Europeans note the odd way American liberals and progressives have of getting assassinated

or otherwise being eliminated."

At the time I couldn't remember the actual source --

knew I had repeated it many times in my journals, but the other day I did remember: ---

I've never smoked pot, but when I was visiting Boston to see my daughter -- in college at

the time -- and my family, I went to "Booksmith" bookstore in Coolidge Corner. Quickly

noticed this magazine with a story about the assassination of JFK -- and bought it.

And terrific articles on the assassination, among other things. Turned out it was a marijuana

magazine -- HIGH TIMES! Well on my way home, I was stopped for speeding -- trying to get

around some big trailers. I had my license and insurance, but in my nervousness couldn't find the

registration. The cop took pity on me, saying ... "this car better belong to you!" and just

gave me a ticket. After he went back to his car I noticed I had the copy of HIGH TIMES

on the passenger seat!

Anyway, I remembered the other day, that quote was in that article -- think I still have the

magazine somewhere!!

Sometimes the answers come really s l o w l y --- !!


:evilgrin: