Solar Energy to Power Marines Headed to WarOctober 14, 2010
 A company of 150 Marines will soon deploy to Afghanistan with enough renewable energy technology to power a command center on nothing but sunlight. The effort is the result of a successful field exercise this summer when the company powered a command center for eight days on solar energy, according to an article by National Defense. If results of the field experiment can be replicated in the battle zone, the marines could pave the way toward military energy independence. This is a critical goal as the Taliban are increasingly attacking fuel convoys. Sharon Burke, who heads the Defense Department’s operational energy programs, told National Defense that the Marine Corps deserve praise for having “operationalized” technologies that worked in the labs but had not been tried in the field. “That makes a big difference,” she said, adding that every service now wants to match the Marines. “We’re seeing it in their budgets…they’re looking at how to use the technologies.” Finding an efficient replacement for fuel-guzzling generators is a priority because of the growing need for power at bases. The article notes, for example that an infantry battalion in 2001 carried 175 radios but now has 1,220. The savings could also be significant. At present a combat brigade uses more than a half-million gallons of fuel daily, mostly to power generators. A single, typical 60-kilowatt generator burns four to five gallons per hour. That adds up to about $700,000 per year based on an estimated fuel cost of $17.44 per gallon in Afghanistan, according to the article. Costs to fuel one base’s generators can total more than $34 million per year. This doesn’t mean that the gas-guzzling generators are headed to the dump. They’ll be on hand as backups. “We are not at the point where we can remove all generators from the battlefield just yet,” Maj. Patrick Reynolds, an officer at the logistics combat element branch at the technology division of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, told National Defense. “That’s a couple of years down the road.” Photo Courtesy of U.S. Marines |
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