Next month, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, cruiser USS Princeton and a number of MH-60S Seahawk helicopters will all tackle the Pacific powered by a 50/50 blend of biofuels and traditional fuel. These machines are part of a carrier strike group fleet, deemed the “Great Green Fleet”, which is scheduled for full deployment in 2016. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus determined renewable energy to be a major priority of the service, declaring that the entire Navy fleet would get half its energy needs from non-oil alternative sources by 2020. As such, the Navy would be less exposed to the wild fluctuations of global petroleum prices and have a reliable domestic supply.
In a political turn of events, however, the Pentagon budget has ostensibly become an obstacle. In a recent report, the House Armed Services Committee has forbid the Defense Department from making or buying bio-based fuels that exceed the cost of traditional fossil fuels. These alternative fuels—such as the $12 million purchase of 450,000 gallons of fuel manufactured from waste chicken fat, algae oil, and used cooking greases—are expensive to make and can cost almost four times that of equivalent petroleum fuels. With the recession still looming and budget cuts across government spending, critics claim it is hard to justify the added costs of going green.
Preventing the adoption of biofuels by a purchaser as large as the Navy may in fact set back the entire business. As a fledgling industry, biofuel production remains in a mostly experimental phase making it highly uncompetitive when compared to the long-running and widespread manufacturing of fossil fuels that has prospered on tax credits for many years. The nature of research and development means that as the adoption rate increases, the cost goes down; the price of alternative bio-based fuel has already dropped by half since 2009. The Defense Department is poised to be a major player in developing market-rate biofuel products as its purchasing power creates an economy of scale that fosters more competitive rates.
Indeed, it appears the Congressional push-back is more a matter of differing political philosophies than motivated by budget concerns. Republicans are currently working to increase defense spending. Simultaneously, new legislation seeks to exempt the Defense Department from previous laws prohibiting the purchase of petroleum-based synthetic fuels (those derived from coal and natural gas) that are more polluting—and often more expensive— than conventional oil.
Despite the Congressional efforts to limit biofuel use by the Navy, it seems the White House is poised to veto any defense-spending bill that includes such a measure.
Photo Credits: Department of Defense