Army's energy battle plan: attack fuel demand.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Battlefield Power

* Deadly bomb attacks on U.S. supply lines in Iraq, and later, Afghanistan, brought to light the military's dangerous dependence on fuel shipments to war zones--to the tune of 60 to 70 million gallons per month in recent years.

The well-documented vulnerability of military supply convoys and greater awareness of the problem, however, have not yet diminished U.S. forces' enormous appetite for fuel.

Wide-ranging green initiatives have been launched by all branches of the military, and most will take years to deliver the promised fuel savings. In the immediate future, the priority is to reduce demand at Army and Marine Corps base camps in Afghanistan, so troops there can become less dependent on daily shipments that may, or may not arrive.

The first order of business for the Army has been finding ways to consume less electricity. Most of its annual $2 billion war fuel bill--35 to 45 percent--is for diesel generators.

Army officials claim some modest successes so far, but allow that energy efficiency on a grand scale will not happen overnight.

"These aren't going to be things that you can achieve huge savings over the course of the first year," said Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, or ARCIC.

A steady stream of headlines about U.S. casualties caused by bomb attacks on fuel convoys over the past several years put pressure on Congress and the Pentagon to do something. Legislation two years ago mandated the Defense Department to create a new office dedicated to "operational energy." But, as is the case with any major initiative at the Pentagon, it takes time to gain traction and achieve results, Vane said in an interview.

"I don't think anyone would disagree that the services in general did not exactly have a rapid start on this," he said. "We started in the Army a couple of years ago." Adjustments were made at the highest levels of the Army's civilian leadership to "get the policies in place," Vane said.

Both the Army and Marine Corps have published energy strategies that call for reducing demand and for technological innovations that should pay off years from now. Vane's office is putting final touches on an "initial capabilities document" that identifies areas where the Army could cut back on energy use, he said.

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The message is that energy efficiency is not an academic debate, but rather a key component of military strategy, Vane said. Over-dependence on energy can undermine...