[CPEO-MEF] ENERGY: "Why the Military Hates Fossil Fuels"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Why the Military Hates Fossil Fuels


Amy Westervelt
Forbes
February 2, 2012

A strange thing has happened in the politicization of climate change:  
Oil has become something conservatives must love, while things like  
energy efficiency and renewable energy have become stand-ins for  
liberal politics, government intervention, taxes, take your pick. So  
it is that people are always surprised to learn that one of the  
biggest proponents of green technology in the United States is that  
most conservative of organizations, the U.S. military. Reducing  
energy use, in particular this country’s dependence on fossil fuels,  
has become a priority amongst all branches of the military pretty  
much since we got involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, and given that  
the Department of Defense is the single largest consumer of energy in  
the country (spending about $4 billion per year on facility energy  
consumption), it has started with its own house.

Time and again top military leaders have spoken out against our  
dependence on oil as a matter of national security. The thing you  
need to remember about the military, though, is that it’s comprised  
more of doers than talkers. To wit, the Department of Defense has  
been making major investments of time and money in green technology  
of various kinds over the last several years, and has been executing  
plans to improve efficiency and reduce energy usage far faster than  
any of the countless state, local and federal programs we hear so  
much more about.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amywestervelt/2012/02/02/why-the-military- 
hates-fossil-fuels-and-you-should-too-part-one-inefficiency/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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