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Sunday, October 25, 2009

More Fight, Less Fuel? US Military To Become Cleantech, Energy Efficient


The United States Army is going solar... and the Navy is launching energy efficient amphibious attack ships... research is underway to take kinetic energy from boots and turn it into battery power... research is underway for hair stand-like instant spray on solar panels for improvized power cells wherever the need arises... it seems like next generation warfare and supply chains may soon be here.  See the links below, starting with the Department of Defense's now publicly available report from last year:  http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2008-02-ESTF.pdf

The Army news about solar sprays is some of the most cutting edge stuff I have seen in the cleantech space... promising a very large and significant commercial application once it becomes available.

I guess we civilians must wait for sun spray batteries to cross over to commercial markets after the generals and admirals have played with them enough in situation games.  But it seems to be worth the wait!

The bottom line is that once national security bodies begin switching to cleantech and alternative energy, it means the technology and energy is rock solid reliable from the security experts' point of view.  No country will risk its military taking the field with faulty power.  So these cool tech concepts and applications will have a good standing endorsement when they finally emerge in the commercial sector.  Strong military research and endorsement represents a high showing of trust from national security decision makers, and this looks good from a technology risk angle in the eyes of investors and financial institutions.

So the day may come when we no longer use fossil fuels and simply spray our cars each morning for their daily fuel!  For more information and some overall interesting reading, check out:

http://www.rgs.uky.edu/odyssey/fall07/energy.html

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-14-us-military-battle-to-wean-off-oil/

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=49147

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE59E5KO20091015

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