Report projects DoD spending on clean energy to reach $1.8 billion by 2025
NewsSeptember 28, 2012
COLORADO SPRINGS – A report by Pike Research has published that by 2025 the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is projected to spend $1.8 billion on clean energy annually. The clean energy programs, which include provisions for conservation that increase gradually over 12 years, are aimed at quelling the $20 billion in yearly expenditures on energy by the DoD’s various branches. Together, the branches consume roughly 120 million barrels of oil and 3.8 billion kWh of electricity annually, collectively making the DoD one of the world’s largest energy consumers.
The report, “Renewable Energy for Military Applications,” sustains that the DoD’s official annual budget of around $800 billion makes it a critical driver of renewable energy in the United States. Including investment in technology procurement and vehicles running on energy efficient components, DoD total expenditures by 2025, as stipulated in the report, are expected to be much greater, with an estimated $75 billion expected to be spent on Research and Development (R&D) alone. The report also offers analysis of present and future plans for clean energy at military bases and the DoD, as well as primary drivers for each of the branches of the military and short- and long-term R&D strategies for biomass, fuel cells, geothermal, hydrokinetic and ocean energy, solar, waste-to-energy, and wind technologies.
“Changes in energy policy have provided countless opportunities throughout all operations of the DoD,” said research analyst Dexter Gauntlett. “With examples of renewable energy projects that include targets of 1 GW of renewable energy installed capacity each for the Army, Navy, and Air Force by 2025, a target of 25 percent of all energy produced or procured from renewable energy sources by 2025, and development of the Navy’s Great Green Fleet Strike Group powered by biofuel, nuclear power, synthetic fuels, and hybrid propulsion systems, most of these initiatives have gained considerable momentum and many of the targets will be achieved.”
More report details are available at http://opsy.st/Uxvsjr.
