Department of Defense procurement and renewable energy

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compiled for 17th Annual Environmental Summit; by J. V. Siry, Climate Policy Analysis

"The report concludes the Defense Department already is observing the impacts of climate change in shocks and stressors to vulnerable nations and communities, including in the United States, the Arctic, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America, officials said."

U. S. Depratment of Defense, WASHINGTON, News Article: July 29, 2015

What will climate change bring?

“the inherent inertia of the climate system (in that past emissions will cause future warming) means that a certain amount of climate change is ‘locked in’. ” ¹

p. 1153.

Defense Department report:

"Geographic Combatant Commands (GCCs) incorporate the risks posed by current and  projected climate variations in to their planning, resource requirements, and operational considerations.

GCCs, often at the request of partner nations, cooperate with other nations on adaptation practices, resilience, environmental considerations, and risk reduction.
Climate-Related Security Risks– Global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for U.S. national security interests over the foreseeable future because it will aggravate existing problems

• such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions— that threaten domestic stability in a number of countries.
•  Each GCC’s assessment of risk reflects how this range of factors will affect security in its Area of Responsibility (AOR).

GCCs generally view climate change as a security risk because it impacts human security and, more indirectly, the ability of governments to meet the basic needs of their populations.

National Security Implications of Climate-Related Risks and a Changing Climate; DoD, July 23, 2015

Deep Background

Dr. Dyer's talk in Cambridge took place on September 16, 2010.

Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiatives

"The U.S. Department of Defense [DoD] is the nation's largest energy user." ²

2010 MOU between the Defense & Energy Departments.

Conserving energy and switching to sustainable energy fuels can "serve as a force multiplier, increasing the range of endurance of forces in the field while reducing the number of combat forces diverted to protect energy supply lines."

". . . innovation has the potential to yield spin-off technologies that benefit the civilian community as well." ³

Initiated & reported 2011

What's here?

 

Highlighted Initiatives:

"net-zero" energy goals

"Net-zero energy means the installation produces as much energy on-site as it uses."

Navy had a goal of reducing non-tactical petrol use in its commercial fleet by 50 percent last year.

"Solar Portable Alternate Communication Energy System" [SPACES] to charge batteries and run electronics and communications equipment in field operations.

EESI, "DoD's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiatives." July 2011.

What's here?

Military is slowly cutting fossil fuel reliance

5 percent goal in reducing fossil fuel dependence was not met, DoD cut by 4 percent as of July 2013.

"Seventy-five percent of the renewable energy procured or produced in FY 2012 actually came from the department’s 679 renewable energy projects.

Areas where geothermal energy is most reliable for electricity.

By the way, with solar and wind the marquee renewable energy sources in the public eye, you might be surprised at the breakdown of those projects:

Geothermal electric power is by far the most significant renewable energy source in DOD, accounting for nearly half of the Department’s renewable energy goal attainment. 

US Military Faces Trio of Renewable Energy Goals:
"US Military Faces Trio of Renewable Energy Goals Legislation and the president are putting pressure on the U.S. military to step up its game on renewable energy." Earthtechling, Pete Danko.

What's here?

Wind and solar energy do not require water to turn into steam.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, [NREL]. U.S. Department of Energy; runs the NREL, whose foucus is "on creative answers to today's energy challenges. From breakthroughs in fundamental science to new clean technologies to integrated energy systems that power" people's lives.

 

The intersection of international politics and planning for abrupt climate change on the basis of a four to six degree Celsius average, warmer world.

“On the positive side, a ‘securitized’ climate debate might be able to marshal sufficiently compelling arguments to encourage the politicians to do something about reducing emissions and investing (carefully) in adaptation. These are things the international community should be doing anyhow and, done well, are consistent with enhancing security and reducing the potential for conflict at all scales.” ¹

 

Dyer on the COP-21 Climate talks:

"The climate deal that almost 200 countries agreed to in Paris last Saturday was far better than most insiders dared to hope

The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, China and the United States, are finally on board. There is money on the table to help poor countries cut their emissions and cope with warming. They have even adopted a target of holding the warming to only plus 1.5 Celsius degrees, instead of plus two degrees that was the goal when the conference opened.

So the thousands of delegates who spent two weeks dickering over the details of the deal in a drafty hall north of Paris felt fully justified in cheering and congratulating one another on a job well done. It’s a pity that the deal won’t stop the warming.

The plus-two limit was always too high. It began as a scientific estimate of when natural feedbacks, triggered by the warming that human beings had caused, take over and start driving the temperature much, much higher. It was a fuzzy number: at somewhere between plus 1.75 and plus 2.25, the feedbacks will kick in."

"Dyer: Cheers and fears at climate talks"
By Gwynne Dyer, Special to Postmedia Network
Friday, December 18, 2015 4:13:38 EST PM.  

What's here?

Sources

Current context

DoD's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiatives

US Military Faces Trio of Renewable Energy Goals ...

Defense Department Procurement of Renewable Energy ... [PDF]

Enlisting the Sun - Solar Energy Industries Association

Renewable Energy Projects at Federal Facilities - U.S. ...