The Sietch Blog

Feb 24
The Military

Written by Rt

I presume those that hate all things Corporate America really hate the military. You can hear the parrots in the background. They may be misguided. It appears our military can act as a “best practices” example for others. Canada says it is behind the curve when it comes to fuel use in the military.

Faced with mounting fuel bills, the Canadian Forces is looking to alternative energy sources as well getting better performance from equipment that it purchases in the future.

The U.S. military estimates that for every $10 US increase in the price of a barrel of oil, its fuel bill climbs $1.3 billion.

The canucks don’t even know what they spend.

Similar figures are not available for the Canadian Forces but officials acknowledge the increase in oil prices is draining resources.

They do know they are getting pummeled on the energy front. Personally, I like letting local managers decide how to spend their budgets.

“People are taking it pretty personally when their budgets are cut by 10, 20 or 30 per cent to compensate for fuel increases. It really hit home last year.”

Ah, the US leads the way.

At some of its bases the U.S. uses wind turbines to provide electricity and it is researching solar power as well as hybrid-electric engine technology. Two months ago, the U.S. air force conducted an experiment flying a bomber on fuel made partly from natural gas.

The canucks have to grasp what is happening.

His first job, however, is to come up with a way to electronically track the consumption of fuel in the military as well as gather other related information, such as whether specific equipment is energy efficient.

Then come the solutions.

Work is also planned on the use of biodiesel and ethanol fuels. Poulin noted that Canadian Forces Base Halifax is interested in operating some of its diesel trucks on a biofuel made from fish oil.

We do tend to invest in the future.

Some energy analysts believe the U.S. military holds the key to fuel-savings in the civilian sector. Scott Pugh, a Washington-based analyst with the Rocky Mountain Institute, noted that military organizations were behind the development of the Internet, jet engines and transistors.

Nothing is all bad, nothing is all good.