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The Navy and Marine Corps' New Energy Revolution

U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Raymond Mabus, spoke to a packed crowd on May 12 on the drive to develop and use alternative energy sources in the Navy and Marine Corps. Mabus began by highlighting the history of Naval fuel innovation - from wind, to coal, to oil, to nuclear, and now to alternative energy sources. In each case, these developments have made the Navy and Marine Corps more capable. The strategic rationale behind the current shift to alternative energy is the need to break the military's dependence on foreign sources of oil. To emphasize this point, Mabus stated, "We would not let countries that deliver our energy today build our warships. We would not let them build our weapon systems. We would not let them be responsible for our defense and yet we're willing to let them power those same warships, those same airplanes, those same weapon systems."

The steps the Navy is taking to become more energy efficient carry added significance not just because of the amount of energy the Defense Department uses (almost 2% of the nation's total) but also because the Department can invest in alternative energy sources earlier than private industry by mandating how buildings are built and which fuel is used. This in turn works to create demand and stimulate development of alternative sources of energy.
Secretary Mabus closed by highlighting the Department of the Navy's ambitious alternative energy goals. For example the Navy plans to derive half of all its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020, and by 2016 the Navy plans to deploy "the great green fleet," a carrier strike group that uses no fossil fuels.