MAY 22

The Department of Defense has described the U.S. military as the world's largest user of petroleum products, spending roughly $13 billion a year.  Luckily, it seems the military's branches are starting to get serious about cutting back.

The Navy has announced that their Energy Conservation Program (i-ENCON) that encourages ships to save fuel wherever possible has resulted in a $79 million savings in the first and second quarters of fiscal 2009.

The Navy burned 14.83 percent less fuel than the average burn rate, which translates in 682,000 fewer barrels of fuel. The voluntary incentive program that gave cash rewards up to $67,000 to ships for improving their fuel efficiency is the likely cause of the significant improvement.

At the end of December, the Navy also announced a 12 percent decline in total energy consumption for 2008 through renewable energy measures at several of its bases. Solar PV, wind, geothermal and ocean thermal energy projects were installed at many bases, mainly in California.

The entire military is looking to reduce fuel costs through buying thousands of electric vehicles for on-base transport. The new fleets are expected to save 11.5 million gallons of gas per year.

via Environmental Leader

Comments (7)

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Spending less on fuel is the new black
written by Alex, May 23, 2009

Efforts in efficiency are the single best way to save carbon and save money. My heroes at the RMI have determined that if the rest of the country was as energy efficiency as New York and California then we could close 60 coal fired power plants. See here: http://ert.rmi.org/research/cgu.html

And instead of the effort costing money, it would save money for everyone as they spent less on energy. (Like the navy did)

Alex

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written by John Rowell, May 23, 2009

Ok, $79 million divided by $13 billion = about 1/2 of 1 percent ... you might call that a drop in the bucket, and hardly statistically significant. Also how do you factor in the much lower cost of fuel during the first quarter of 2009?

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written by EV, May 23, 2009

By looking at prior usage rates and multiplying the reduction in fuel used by the current cost of fuel.

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written by enicao, May 23, 2009

Military is such a waste of energy.
how much energy do you need to build and fuel a boat, a tank or a fighter plane?

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$13billion a year?
written by hyperspaced, May 28, 2009

that makes the US bailout look small...

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Stepping in the right direction.
written by YNot, May 31, 2009

Every little bit of effort helps the
eco-system that we live in. Shifting our attitude is the first step, then following through with thoughtful action.

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written by Fred, June 30, 2009

us navy is taking a big step appreciate it

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