Hard enough to afford what the nation’s military actually needs without this nonsense. Try coal to liquids if you are really worried about domestic energy security because there’s plenty of coal and proven techniques for converting it
Analysis: U.S. government a tenuous beachhead for biofuel firms – The U.S. military has emerged as a key ally for fledgling producers of non-food-based biofuels, who find themselves threatened by looming budget cuts and growing political hostility to renewable energy funding.
A U.S. Navy plan to cut its fossil fuel use in half by 2020 is only part of the story.
Efforts to throw biofuels a lifeline now run across three U.S. government agencies, as the defense, energy and agriculture departments pitch in on a $510 million package.
The money is being corralled under a law dating back to the Korean War that gives a leg up to sectors deemed necessary for defense. This support is cherished for being more predictable than the private sector, or even other parts of government.
The problem is that money alone will not be enough to see many biofuels firms through to commercialization, which is especially frustrating for those whose business models work fine, in theory, with petroleum at around $100 a barrel. (Reuters)
Does the U. S. have a petroleum fuel problem? We have perhaps 20 percent of the world’s oil, why not let our oil companies develop it and sell it at a fair price to our armed foreces. The Navy spend 10 a gallon on biofuels is insane. If they think it necessary to cut fossil fuel use to one half by 2020, mothballl half the ships that use fossil fuel.
All government organizations are bending over to find some use for renewables. This gains favor from the commander-in-chief and probably invitations to the White House. We can not afford this waste of money.