The Navy's Green Devices: Coming to a Store Near You?

07/11/11

By Lucy Flood, The Atlantic

The Department of Defense is the single largest energy purchaser in America, if not the world. That's why the Navy's goal to source 50 percent of its energy from alternative fuels by 2020 potentially has huge ramifications for future fuel supplies and alternative energy technologies.

In the past year alone, the Navy has deployed portable solar panels, LED lighting systems, hybrid electric ship technologies, and, perhaps most significantly, so-called "green flights" (using aircraft powered by a mix of fossil fuels and biofuel). Some Marine Corps patrol bases in Afghanistan now operate exclusively on solar powered generators, while China Lake Base in California actually puts energy back into the grid. All of which raises a couple of questions. Why, exactly, is the Navy so determined to become green? And could the average consumer benefit from the new products the Navy is supporting?

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