Air Force ranks No. 1 for renewable energy use - GreenHybrid

bar10dah · #1 (**permalink**) 01-27-2006, 05:03 PM

Quote:

PRESS RELEASE -- Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Public Affairs

Release No. 070106
January 27,2006

Air Force ranks No. 1 for renewable energy use

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - The Air Force purchased more renewable energy than any other member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s green power partnership last year, according to a report released Jan. 24 by the EPA.

The partnership, which is sponsored by the EPA, consists of U.S. companies and organizations that purchase significant amounts of renewable energy. This is the second year in a row the Air Force has topped the list.

Last year, the Air Force purchased 1,066,397 megawatt hours of renewable energy. That represents 11 percent of all electrical usage by the Air Force in 2005.

Besides being the biggest purchaser in the green power partnership, the Air Force is also the leading purchaser of renewable energy in the federal government, accounting for nearly 50 percent of all green power purchases by the federal government.

“We’ve been very aggressive in pursuing renewable energy because it makes e! conomic sense,” said Jim Snook, Air Force renewable energy program manager. “Industry has seen that we are committed to renewable energy and they are bringing ideas and projects to us and making more renewable purchasing opportunities available,”

Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and Fairchild AFB, Wash., now receive 100 percent of their energy from wind or other renewable power sources provided by local utility companies. The Air Force also has begun generating its own renewable power and operates a 2.4-megawatt wind farm on Ascension Island and a 1.3-megawatt wind farm at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. Wind farms are also being considered at several other bases.

While wind power is the largest contributor so far in the Air Force’s renewable energy plan, the portfolio also includes the use of biomass at Hill AFB, Utah and the installation of more than 3,500 ground source heat pumps at various installations. Energy management officials said! they are also trying to increase the use of solar energy, which in th e past was considered cost prohibitive.

“New technologies have significantly reduced the price of renewables so that in many areas, it’s competitive with commercial power,” said Jerry Doddington, chief of the Air Force energy management team. “The key for companies is to have a customer, and it’s our plan to be a customer.”

The complete green power partnership ranking is available at the EPA Web site.

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Air Force Press Releases -- news releases on current Air Force issues and events.

xcel · #2 (**permalink**) 01-27-2006, 05:37 PM

RichC · #3 (**permalink**) 01-28-2006, 10:23 AM

Excellent link ... I'm spreading the word and giving kudos to my daughter who is an Air Force officer. (even though she has nothing to do with alternatives. : ) )

xcel · #4 (**permalink**) 01-28-2006, 02:12 PM

bar10dah · #5 (**permalink**) 01-28-2006, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xcel

...Exelon Corporation (EXC) not only derive a significant portion of their electrical output from Nuclear, 100% of their diesel fleet runs on B20 making them the largest consumer of Bio-diesel in the country …

I'm not sure how this relates to what I posted? Was it an FYI post? Or was something incorrect in the article I posted?

gonavy · #6 (**permalink**) 01-29-2006, 02:15 PM

...and if MY service was primarily situated in large, open areas with low pop densities, and high winds, with numerous alt-energy sources in the area, as opposed to hugging the densely-populated, older infrastructured coasts...

Seriously, though, the services take saving fuel pretty seriously when they can, at least in the pointy-tip side of the house. Running out of fuel in the middle of the pond (or desert) could impede one's chances for further promotion. We'd run around on 1 of 4 turbines, 2nd screw feathered, for upwards of 95% of the time. I could make 500K gallons last for 2 weeks, or I could make it last for 36 hours.

For Xcel's amusement, this philosophy did NOT apply to the soon-to-be decommed SSNs who would cruise everywhere at flank to deplete their cores as much as possible prior to deactivation.

rigger · #7 (**permalink**) 01-29-2006, 02:47 PM

When I lived in Guam we had a mandatory water conservation go into effect right after a MAJOR typhoon (Katrina wasn't major compared to this one as far as wind speed goes) . Anyway, we were ordered not to take showers - we being the military members AND their families. I went as far as having evedrybody bath in water runoff from the roof of our house. The day after it went into effect I was driving by the golf course and the sprinklers were on!!!! I soon after lost my faith in some military officers and their command decisions.

On a more positive note, I did post here a few months ago that I saw some Marine recruiters driving a GOV (Gov plated) FEH. That was a positive sight, especially since I had minutes earlier left a Navy base and seen the Marine H1 recruiter tool.

xcel · #8 (**permalink**) 01-29-2006, 03:09 PM

bar10dah · #9 (**permalink**) 01-29-2006, 04:44 PM

No prob Xcel. I had originally thought maybe you were pointing out an error in what the Air Force was saying. I wanted to know if what I read was wrong. But, I couldn't find a correlation between the Air Force press release and what you had posted.

Gonavy, for what it's worth: for the first few thousand years, the navy used no fuel whatsoever. Just wind power. So they're the most fuel efficient branch of the military!

Delta Flyer · #10 (**permalink**) 01-29-2006, 04:58 PM

I'll give the Air Force a break on jet fuel - there is no alternative yet.

I'll even say on a battlefield (and only there) a Humvee is fuel efficient - it goes 4 or 5 times farther on a gallon of gas as an Abrams tank.

I'm glad the Pentagon is serious about saving fuel....