The Marines are looking into small scale, truck-based biofuel plants that could turn vegetable matter into fuel. In Afghanistan, it was suggested the poppy crop might be used to make fuel instead of heroin.
The large list of "eco tech" projects the military is working on includes solar field shelters that go over your tent and generate electricity using very thin silicon sheets. There's hybrid electric drives systems for a number of combat vehicles such as the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon (or NLOS-C), a 155mm self-propelled howitzer. Then there's the UNI-PAC solar panel that can actually be worn by soldiers to recharge various military gadgets.
Maybe the coolest entry is The Aggressor, a lethal-looking, 66-inch-wide hybrid diesel golf cart that can run only on batteries when quiet stealth is important. The Aggressor can go from zero to 40mph in four seconds and has a top speed of 80mph. According to a 2009 Popular Mechanics article, this little beast could be "the first hybrid to hit the streets of Baghdad en masse." In Afghanistan, it would be the bomb, dude, for hunter/killer teams.
Back in 2007, the Pentagon contracted a study that read it the riot act on fossil fuel.
Developing "new energy technologies that address alternative supply sources and efficient consumption across all aspects of military operations" was "imperative" for the Department Of Defense, the study concluded.
"We are at the edge of a precipice and we have one foot over the edge. The only way to avoid going over is to move forward and move forward aggressively with initiatives to develop alternative fuels," said Milton R. Copulos, National Defense Council Foundation president in a Boston Globe article.
The Department of Defense is the largest single energy consumer in the United States.
"There are a lot of profound reasons for doing this, but for us at the core it's practical," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told The Times. "The price will come down and the infrastructure will be created."
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