In the good ol’ days, like during WWII, when you ran out of fuel for your jeep on the battlefield, you just sucked it out of any other vehicle that was around. If they extend this ‘algaeline’ (can I get the trademark on this name?) to land vehicles, I have a feeling you’ll be stuck for a while.
The U.S. Navy has rolled out the first military vessel designed to run on eco-friendly fuel. And this “mean, green riverine machine” is only the start: Within five years, the Navy anticipates a 10-ship carrier strike group — a “Great Green Fleet” — that relies entirely on alternative energy.
On Friday, Navy brass showed off the ship — a 49 foot-long riverine command boat that attains speeds of 40-knots — during a demonstration at the Norfolk, Va. Naval Base. The ship burns a 50-50 blend of algae-based fuel and diesel, and “ran just fine” during the demo, according to Rear Adm. Philip Cullom, director of the Chief of Naval Operations Energy and Environmental Readiness Division.
[...]
The Navy’s got a head-start on other fuel-thirsty military departments, but they’re still figuring out how to make alternative fuels affordable. Last year, the Navy spent $424 per gallon to buy 20,055 gallons of algae-based biofuel — a world record price for fuel, the Marine Corps Times is reporting.“Yes, these fuels are expensive,” Cullom says. “When you’re leading the way on something, it’s not gonna be $3 bucks a gallon.”
“a world record price for fuel” — Really? Fuel for nuclear subs is cheaper?
You’ve got to be kidding
What have these left wing nutjobs got us into now
GM Volt cars more expensive than Cadillacs
What would these people have us fuel these new vehicles with ? They hate coal and coal people, they won’t allow nuclear plants
All of this in the middle of a recession
I read today of a “fugitive from the EPA”
they tracked her down to the Dominican Republic
20 years for non trained asbestos removal staff
then i look -pages and pages of the EPA’s most wanted and apprehended
Get me out of here
Nutcase city
But is it KARMA enhanced eco-fuel?
The military is wasting money on this type of stuff all over the world.
To all of you getting up in arms over this “green” stuff…
Cars for the military? I tell you its a waste! These cars ain’t going nowhere!. That much money you can have horses pull your artillery just like we did in ’98 with Teddy Roosievelt and his Rough Riders! And they do it cheaper. And if things get bad you can eat the horses, can’t eat no cars!
Horses have been on the battlefield since Jesus’ time! No need for those contraptions! Just money being wasted on something no one wants or needs!
Yep pretty much.
Cursor_
stupid greenies costing us a fortune
The first VCR cost $5k retail. To decry the cost of developing technology, especially that supporting strategic infrastructure, is beyond stupid.
Love the stupidity of the eco-army. What bullets are they firing these days? Are they made of fertiliser and contain a tiny seed to grow a tree from everybody they shoot?
You’d imagine they’d be more concerned about what they are firing out the big gun on the front (DU) rather than what came out the tiny pipe at the back.
When did conservatives become rabidly anti-innovation?
OF COURSE experimental algae fuel is expensive but the potential of this fuel source is exciting and hopeful (except to conservatives who automatically hate it because it’s something new.).
>> smartalix said, on November 4th, 2010 at 4:49 am
>> The first VCR cost $5k retail. To decry the cost of developing technology, especially that supporting strategic infrastructure, is beyond stupid.
The kneejerk anti-innovation stupidity of these conservatives will surely end Americans leadership status.
Your example is a good one but there are many. The first pill of any new drug costs millions per tablet, for example.
Since the conservatives are hell-bent on defunding schools and colleges while POURING TRILLIONS into the military, I suppose that the only place the government can do research.
The cost is now under $100 a gallon. The $424 was last years price. And I believe the supplier is Exxon.
# 25 smartalix “To decry the cost of developing technology… is beyond stupid.”
Yeah, well, alternative fuels are hardly cutting edge.
Love it..
PULL all money out of the sytem,
Keep taxes the same..
Put it in pocket.
Corps Rant about TO MUCH TAXES..
Then charge the gov. for product and services, ABOVE PROFIT LEVEL..
The Gov. PAID for corps to make and Storage goods, for YEARS..Products never made, and never Stored. Then the War hit..
Could the US military have had STORED the products?? probably.
Liberals want to cut funding from defense. This algae fuel is a good place to start.
Giving our enemies money through fossil-fuel purchases costs us more.
Makes Pentagon Hammers and Toilet Seats look CHEAP !!!
Perhaps they could burn TREASURY NOTES AND CURRENCY MORE CHEAPLY !!!
This has nothing to do with “green.” This about military preparedness. Japan’s Navy suffered during the war in the Pacific because they had no fuel to move their ships or supplies. They began extracting fuel from certain species of trees in an attempt to keep their planes flying, cutting down every damn one of them in an attempt to slow the advances of the well-fueled US Navy. They came into the war unprepared for a fuel shortage and they had no contingency plan.
A fuel shortage stops a modern Navy (except the Nukes) in its tracks. If you can double your range with a different source of fuel (whether that means invading an enemy oil field or using a different substance) you do it. That’s a contingency plan. That’s what keeps your Navy moving while your enemy’s is stopped.
The US Navy like the British Navy its descended from has a long history of “make it work” and this is another example of that. If all of you could set aside your seditious party-first-country-second attitudes for a moment you would see that this was an experiment in being prepared for the worst, which is exactly what men in uniform do everyday.
S.