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07 Oct 08. The Army is undertaking a variety of initiatives to reduce its energy consumption, including an effort to make its installations net energy producers over the next 15 years. The Army has reduced energy usage 8 percent since 2000, but rising energy costs have increased energy costs by 60 percent, said Keith Eastin, assistant secretary for installations and environment. Eastin spoke Oct. 7 at an ILW Contemporary Military Forum entitled “Army Energy Strategy for the 21st Century.” So rising energy costs are forcing the Army to take a more systematic approach to reducing energy usage. An Army Energy Security Task Force was formed this year and has already made several recommendations, including creating a council of senior army leaders to deal with energy issues, accelerating the use of renewable energy, expediting the metering of all installations to better measure energy usage, and implementing better practices for controlling energy usage on forward operating bases.
“While we’ve made substantial gains in reducing energy consumption, the market effects that we are experiencing today – and that in all probability we’re going to experience for some time to come – are going to demand a much more aggressive and holistic approach to our energy policy in the army,” Eastin said.
The Army now spends about $1.6bn per year on energy at its installations. But over the next 15 years, the a
Army intends to generate enough energy on its installations to become a net energy producer.
“At this stage we don’t know exactly how we’re going to do that, but we do know that we don’t have the resources to do it and we don’t have the expertise to do it – that’s going to have to be built up. But if we are to become energy independent, this is something we have to do,”