{"id":13199,"date":"2015-05-25T18:49:34","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T22:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=13199"},"modified":"2015-05-25T18:58:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T22:58:18","slug":"remember-the-troops-by-enlisting-solar-power-to-prevent-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/remember-the-troops-by-enlisting-solar-power-to-prevent-wars.html","title":{"rendered":"Remember the troops by enlisting solar power to prevent wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nThis Memorial Day let’s honor those who have served and those who have fallen\r\nby getting on with removing one of the major causes of war:\r\nfossil fuels.\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe U.S. military is putting its money where its mouth is in buying\r\nsolar power.\r\nEspecially now that\r\n\r\nHB 57 is law<\/a> and enables solar financing,\r\nthe rest of us can do the same.\r\nAnd that will prevent casualties and prevent wars.\r\n

\r\nWTOC Staff, 15 May 2015,\r\n\r\nFt. Stewart breaks ground on renewable energy solar project<\/a>,\r\n

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\r\nThere will be nearly 140,000 solar panels covering about 200 acres.\r\nGeorgia Power owns and operates the solar panels, and all of the\r\nenergy generated will go to Georgia Power to be equally distributed\r\nto people across the region who use Georgia Power, including\r\nMidCoast Regional Airport, Fort Stewart, and any other residential\r\ncustomers.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Let me put a little bit into perspective; so the Army is the\r\nlargest utility consumer in the United States, we buy more utility\r\nservices than anyone else, even WalMart,” Deputy Assistant Secretary\r\nof the Army Richard Kidd said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWhy is the U.S. military doing this?\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\nCheryl Kaften, PV Magazine, 17 May 2013,\r\n\r\nSEIA report: U.S. military cuts casualties and costs with solar energy<\/a>,\r\n

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\r\nMost of us don’t know the agonizing price that military families pay\r\nfor fossil fuel. In fact,\r\n\r\none out of eight<\/a> U.S. casualties during\r\nOperation Iraqi Freedom was sustained by a soldier protecting a fuel\r\nsupply convoy.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCumulatively, over the past decade, more than 3,300 U.S. troops have\r\ndied during attacks on fuel convoys. The reality is that supply\r\nfleets represent large and vulnerable targets for snipers and\r\ninsurgents with improvised explosive devices (IEDs)—and fully\r\n80% of all supply trucks operating in the region are carrying fuel\r\nto remote military outposts where it is not readily available.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSEIA, 17 May 2013,\r\n\r\nEnlisting the Sun: Powering the U.S. Military with Solar Energy 2013<\/a>,\r\n

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\r\nIn Afghanistan, not far from Khyber Pass, a company of U.S. Marines\r\nwere the first ones to take portable solar panels and solar tent\r\nshields into a battle zone. As the New York Times reported at the\r\ntime, “After a decade of waging wars in remote corners of the\r\nglobe where fuel is not readily available, senior commanders have\r\ncome to see overdependence on fossil fuel as a big liability, and\r\nrenewable technologies — which have become more reliable and\r\nless expensive over the past few years — as providing a\r\npotential answer.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSecretary Ray Mabus, for one, is supporting efforts to have 50\r\npercent of the power used by the Navy and Marines come from\r\nrenewable energy sources by 2020. This marks a seismic shift in\r\nPentagon thinking about energy.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAs the world’s largest energy consumer and one of the greatest\r\ncatalysts of technological innovation, the U.S. Department of\r\nDefense (DOD) has the ability to transform markets through its\r\nprocurement power alone. Consistently rated among the most trusted\r\nand respected organizations in America, the DOD adopts technologies\r\nthat often find their way into civilian lives.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nIn recent years, the Navy, Army and Air Force have each implemented\r\naggressive plans that have put the U.S. military on a path to\r\nsignificantly expand its use of clean, renewable solar energy. Each\r\nbranch has outlined ambitious renewable energy targets that will\r\ndrive 3 gigawatts (GW)1 of renewable energy installations by 2025.\r\nAll of these targets have been designed to help meet a wider DOD\r\nmandate, title 10 USC 2911, that requires 25 percent of total\r\nfacility energy consumption to come from renewable energy sources by\r\n2025.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nLet’s get to the root of the matter.\r\nJeff D. Colgan, Belfer Center, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, October 2013,\r\n\r\n“Oil, Conflict, and U.S. National Interests”<\/a>,\r\n

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