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05 Apr 12. US Army targets fuel savings with hybrid energy and advanced fuel generators. The ‘Sky Soldiers’ of the US Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) will be the first US Army personnel to operationally deploy with an assortment of new energy generation and management systems when they go down range to Afghanistan later this year. The Vicenza-based unit used its Mission Rehearsal Exercise (MRE) at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Hohenfels, Germany, to trial a number of these systems in March. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
11 Apr 12. The U.S. Air Force is trying to identify a spare C-130J Hercules to allow the cargo aircraft’s maker, Lockheed Martin, to flight-test a series of fuel-reduction trials that could cut consumption by up to 7 percent, according to a senior company official. The U.S. plane maker has carried out wind tunnel testing on various drag-reduction options on the C-130, and is looking to validate those findings in flight, said Jim Grant, vice president for new business at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. With spiraling costs putting fuel efficiency high on the military’s agenda, the U.S. Air Force is looking at measures to reduce the huge fuel bill run up by its transport fleet. Lockheed also is doing work on the C-5 Galaxy, another transport plane. Grant said guide vanes, strakes and winglets were all being looked at as part of a joint initiative with the service to cut fuel consumption across its air transport fleet. Grant said the company is not under contract to undertake the modifications for the Air Force, but he expected some of the changes to “start occurring within the next year.” But first, the company needs an aircraft to test some of its options. The current heavy use of the C-130J fleet makes it challenging to get an aircraft for the 30 days needed to modify and carry out the tests, Grant said. (Source: Defense News)
10 Apr 12. Lockheed Martin has achieved a set of aggressive five-year global environmental goals a year ahead of schedule, as part of the company’s Go Green commitment made in 2008. The company met or exceeded its goals of reducing water use, waste-to-landfill and carbon emissions by 25 percent each since 2007 levels, while revenues rose 12 percent in the same period. According to publicly available company data and the Carbon Disclosure Project, Lockheed Martin is leading major aerospace and defense companies, and many other large industrial manufacturers, in hitting these environmental performance targets.
* The company slashed water use by 25 percent, saving more than 1.5bn gallons of water. This is equivalent to water consumed by 3.9m average U.S. households every day. Contributing factors included upgrading heating and cooling equipment, installing low-flow fixtures and forward-thinking facilities projects such as landscaping in Denver, Colo. in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water from irrigation.
* The company cut its amount of waste-to-landfill by 39 percent, or 35m pounds, compared to 2007, its baseline year. Examples of contributing efforts included comprehensive recycling programs at multiple U.S. facilities, efforts in Marietta, Ga., that cut the amount of packaging required for major parts, and reducing cafeteria food waste at several facilities.
* The company sliced carbon emissions by 30 percent through energy efficiency efforts with lighting and HVAC systems, the purchase of renewable solar and wind energy and innovations such as using wood waste to power its 1.6m square-foot plant in Owego, N.Y. The total carbon reduction equals the annual greenhouse emissions from more than 85,000 passenger cars. Additionally, as of the first quarter of 2012, 61 percent of the company’s 150 energy savings projects identified in 2010 and 2011 are partially or fully implemen