Military sees changing climate as an enemy

Osama bin Laden hates this car

– bumper sticker on the Prius of James Woolsey, former CIA director

Woolsey also partially powers his home with solar panels.

 

The former CIA director, other Bush neoconservatives who planned and promoted the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, anti-war vets and even Arianna Huffington believe America's dependence on foreign oil partially funds America's enemies. Energy efficiency and alternative power are patriotic, they said, trying to make the case for an energy policy that weans the United States from politically unstable sources of fuel. The most recent effort is tied up in the U.S. Senate (link requires registration).

The civilian architects of those wars were joined by retired military officers who were talking about the strategic and tactical value of renewable energy, especially solar:

If you really want to support our troops, don’t put that sticker on the back of a gas guzzling SUV going down the 405 freeway with one passenger in it. If you want to support our troops, help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

– U.S. Navy Vice Admiral (Ret.) Dennis McGinn. Plug-in Humvees and low-cost solar could be tactics in the 21st century way of waging war.

Here an example of research that could make it happen: It's about a conductive ink that allows the use of an ink-jet printer to make printed organic photovoltaic solar cell panels on very thin, flexible surfaces.

It would have has a number of advantages for the military; it is ready to use, inexpensive, has little logistical footprint and is easy to use for powering portable communications, cell phones, radios Global Positioning Systems and other devices. It will also allow solar cells to be printed on military tents and soldiers’ uniforms. Energy systems, ready to go.