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Energy & Climate Change
Gargantuan Thirst for Fuel Creates Logistical Nightmare for Marines
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By Sandra I. Erwin
The commandant of the Marine Corps dispatched a team of observers to Afghanistan earlier this year to help pinpoint urgent battlefield energy needs.
The “energy assessment team” came back with a long list of problems, said Gen. James Conway. The most pressing one is the need to reduce fuel consumption because transporting fuel into Afghanistan is a logistical nightmare, Conway said at the recent Navy Energy Forum in McLean, Va.
In the United States, there are plenty of renewable energy programs on military bases, he said. “But we’re not doing so well with our expeditionary capability. That’s where we are most inefficient.”
Energy demands have grown exponentially in recent years, he noted. In 2001, a Marine infantry battalion had 32 canvas-topped humvees. Today it has 55 armored humvees. The same unit had 175 radio sets in 2001, and today it has 1,220. Fuel is needed not just to fill up trucks but also to power mammoth electrical generators.
The daily fuel requirement in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade is 88,000 gallons a day. “Most all comes through a tenuous supply line through Pakistan,” said Conway. About half of the fuel goes to aviators. The other half goes to ground vehicles and logistics.
The supply lines are unsafe. About 80 percent of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan are caused by roadside bombs — with 10 percent of those attacks being directed at resupply convoys.
A gallon of jet fuel that costs $1.05 ends up costing $400 by the time it gets to Afghanistan because of the transportation and security expenses.
Water shipments are another Achilles’ heel. Marines are not allowed to drink the local water, so 60-ounce plastic bottles have to be shipped from the Persian Gulf and traverse Pakistan. “For every fuel truck, you have seven water trucks,” Conway said. “By the way, it doesn’t taste very good after it’s been cooked in the sun for days.”
Water is available in theater, but it’s not certified for drinking. Marines have drilled 600 feet deep and found fresh water aquifers, which can be used to shower but not to consume. If there were an easy way to purify the water to U.S. government standards, “We could take 50 trucks a week off the roads,” Conway said.
Marines also need more efficient generators. Current systems only operate at 30 percent capacity, but they burn the same amount of fuel regardless of whether they run at 30 percent or 100 percent capacity. At Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan, Marines go through 15,000 gallons of fuels a day for about 200 generators.
Conway said Marines could really use portable solar panels and wind turbines.
“We need an expeditionary mentality … not dependent on a supply line,” he said. “There will be other Afghanistans with ungoverned space, where people don’t live and nobody wants to go.”
Logistics-support contractors “are not going to help us,” Conway said. “It’s not in their best interest for us to be more efficient. So it’s on us to reach those goals.”
The next step for the Marine Corps is to evaluate what products and technologies may be available in government, academia and the private sector to address these energy problems. The Corps is expected to host an “Expeditionary Power and Energy Symposium” in January in New Orleans. According to a solicitation, the objective of the symposium will be to discuss Marine needs to lighten the combat load; reduce vulnerabilities to bases, stations and outposts; and improve overall energy efficiency in expeditionary environments. The Corps will be seeking briefings from industry, academia, research centers, national laboratories and other government agencies at the symposium.
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