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10 Jul 12. Brent Erickson, executive vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) Industrial & Environmental Section, issued the following statement in support of the Navy’s demonstration of advanced biofuels during the upcoming Rim of the Pacific international naval maneuvers: “Oil price volatility has already reduced military readiness, making this an urgent problem to address. In 2010 and 2011, DoD was forced to reprogram budget from equipment and training to pay for higher fuel costs. Achieving energy security is critical to national security and military readiness, and the domestic advanced biofuel industry is attempting to do its part to help the U.S. military reach its goals. It is clear that our military cannot achieve energy security by continuing to depend on foreign oil. Liquid fuels are needed to fly planes and sail ships, so biofuels are critical components of military energy security. U.S. taxpayers spend $80bn each year for the U.S. military to defend international oil shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. At the same time, the United States is importing nearly 2 million barrels of oil from the Persian Gulf each and every day. U.S. consumers are essentially paying twice for each barrel of our continued dependence on foreign oil.”
The U.S. military has experienced as much pain at the pump in recent years as every other U.S. consumer, due to the increasing volatility of oil prices. The Department of Defense spent $17.3bn on petroleum in 2011, a 26 percent increase from the previous year with practically no change in the volume purchased. In the past year, the $30 increase in oil prices resulted in more than $3bn in additional, unplanned costs for the DoD. (Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
11 Jul 12. Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. and Lockheed Martin have entered into a teaming agreement with the goal of developing a 19 megawatt wave-energy project in Victoria, Australia. This is one of the largest wave-energy projects announced to date, and leverages a grant from the Commonwealth of Australia. For the project, Lockheed Martin will assist with the design of Ocean Power Technologies’ (OPT) PowerBuoy® technology, lead the production and system integration of the wave-energy converters and support overall program management. Lockheed Martin and OPT have been collaborating since 2004, first on the development of an Advanced Deployable System for the U.S. Navy and most recently to design and launch utility-scale wave energy converters off the coast of Reedsport, Oregon.