Department Of Defense Leadership On Clean Energy

America has the wherewithal to create a clean energy future and needs to commit to doing so. As ever, this is a fight the U.S. military can help lead and win. The Department of Defense (DoD) has a proud history of helping lead technological change and progress. For example, it was DoD research that led to the creation of the internet and the remarkable social and economic changes associated with it.

Today, DoD is helping to develop new fuels and power sources. DoD generates almost 12 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources – about the same level as House and Senate legislative proposals call for commercial utilities to meet in 2020. Nellis Air Force based has commissioned a 14.2 megawatt solar power array – which will be the largest in the Americas. On the efficiency front, DoD has reduced its energy use by more than 10 percent since 2003 and aims to improve energy efficiency some 30 percent by 2015. Given its success and leadership, it is not surprising that the 2009 economic recovery bill included $350 million to advance research and deployment of renewable and energy efficient technologies.

In the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Report, DoD included the impacts of climate change and energy for the first time declaring that “Climate  change...may  act  as  an  accelerant  of  instability  or conflict,  placing  a  burden  to  respond  on  civilian  institutions  and  militaries  around  the world”

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