Thanks to Earth2Tech's Katie Fehrenbacher for calling out the link between two worlds many would suppose have no contact with each other: the green energy innovators and the US military. Similar to the way the military took the lead on racial integration because it was a good idea and provided benefits to the military, the Army and the other service components are investigating solar, hybrid electrics, and other technologies because they could provide real benefit. Benefit to the Army that is.
Simply put, cleaner, greener power sources give the military multiple advantages over the largely oil-driven approach it's had since WW2:
- On field power generation that markedly more quite - you can understand why that's a benefit right? And it's not just so the soldier can hear his/her iTunes more clearly!
- Less smoke - for reasons that are similar to above, beyond the fact that soldiers don't have to breath as many fumes, it's easier to remain hidden from enemy forces.
- Less dependence on oil - the world's most volatile energy source. Heck, it's probably what many if not most of the future wars are going to be about, anyway. Removing oil partially or fully from the logistic's tail would remove a ton (actually, thousands of tons) of risk for battlefield planners as well as make the combatant forces many times more agile.
