Look behind many of the key technologies of the 20th and 21st centuries, and you’ll see a long history of military involvement. The U.S. armed forces kick-started American dominance in civil aviation through their demand for planes during WWI, and later drove the growth of the computer industry by buying every microchip and supercomputer in sight during the 60’s. Military scientists and military-funded researchers developed the ideas behind the Internet, nuclear power, and personal computing. Indeed, the U.S. military has arguably been the greatest force for technological growth in modern times. And now, it’s time for renewable energy to get the Army treatment.
Let’s look back to the 1960s. Jack Kilby, a scientist at Texas Instruments, had pioneered an innovative circuit design a few years earlier by packing several transistors onto a single conductive “chip,” creating a “microchip” that stood to be more reliable, better suited to mass production, and far faster than existing circuitry. It was the military – not the consumer market – that quickly realized the strategic value of Kilby’s achievement. Throughout the early 1960’s, military agencies bought virtually every microchip manufacturers could produce. These purchases enabled big advances in military technology, facilitating projects like Minuteman and Apollo and cementing America’s position as a military power.
And a funny thing happened along the way. Massive military demand drove producers to make chips faster and cheaper, driving the cost of a microchip from $1000 to $20 in the span of a few years. Suddenly microchips were an affordable component, available for use in the broader marketplace; everyone – not just the armed forces – benefited from the military’s investment.
Could renewable energy technology follow the same path? I believe so. Renewable energy is a clear strategic asset for the military, and military demand could help drive the cost reductions that clean tech needs in order to become a core energy solution.
Say you’re the commander of an Army base in Iraq. Your troops and equipment need tons of energy – energy to cool the barracks and the computers, fuel vehicles, pump water, run communications equipment, and so forth. Right now, that energy is coming from a big tank of diesel fuel, connected to a generator and a gas pump. Your troops have to go out in fuel convoys when the tank need filling, exposing them to hostile fire and keeping them from other, more important tasks. The diesel is expensive and getting much more so, and supply isn’t always certain. (Consider: In 2004 – when oil cost around $50 a barrel – the U.S. military spent $7 billion on fuel. Meanwhile, the Army alone spent $3.2 billion to pay the 60,000 personnel it needed to transport its fuel.)
Meanwhile, if your troops need energy out on patrol, they have to lug it around in the form of heavy, unwieldy batteries; a single Special Ops soldier might have to carry 100 pounds of batteries at a time. And of course, your gas-guzzling Humvees and Jeeps can only go so far before heading back to the pump.
Considering all this, you (as hypothetical commander) might be getting fed up with your dependence on petroleum. Indeed, some officers and military analysts already are, and what they’re asking for is next-generation energy. Beyond boosting efficiency, deploying solar panels and small turbines for bases, lightweight and efficient batteries and portable solar equipment for patrols, and hybrid engines for vehicles could make operation a lot cheaper and safer – and cleaner. Unfortunately, the top brass have been slow to respond to this strategic need.
Imagine if the armed forces announced a massive deployment initiative for renewable energy technologies, based on a competitive bidding process. The military and its troops would benefit hugely, but the benefits wouldn’t stop there; considering the massive buying power of the military, the results could be transformative. As firms scale up and improve production to meet demand, their technologies will get cheaper and easier to produce, enabling their spread into consumer and industrial uses; in other words, the military could do for clean tech what it did for microchips.
It took the armed forces to build the digital era – now it’s time for a cheap, safe, clean energy future. Your turn, Washington…
Huzzah!