Fuel crunch: Air Force energy-saving plans face technical, financial hurdles.

• Author: Wagner, Breanne
• Position: UPFRONT

The Air Force is proposing new measures to cut aviation fuel consumption by 10 percent within the next six years. Among the initiatives is to substitute up to 50 percent of the fleet's conventional fuel with synthetic alternatives by 2016, officials said.

The plan, which would affect the service's 5,700 aircraft, is intended to help the United States becomes less dependent on imported oil, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said at a recent conference. Wynne cited tensions with oil-producing countries such as Iran and Venezuela as a reason why the United States should reduce its consumption of fossil fuels. "The leaders of both countries have serious issues with the United States," Wynne said.

Besides political ramifications, the cost of foreign oil has had a notable financial impact on the service.

The Air Force in 2006 exceeded its budget for aviation fuel by $1.6 billion, and by $1.4 billion in 2005. These overruns were mostly the result of a "dramatic spike in the price of fuel," said William Anderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics. There was also an increase in energy use, he said.

When the price of a barrel of oil increases by $10, it costs the Air Force about $600 million annually; Wynne said.

In 2005, for example, the Pentagon purchased 133 million barrels of oil, for the entire year. By comparison, the United States consumes 21 million barrels of oil per day, 14 million of which are imported. The Defense Department is the largest single consumer of fuel in the United States, even though it expends only 1.8 percent of the country's total transportation fuel.

Aviation operations account for 95 percent of fuel use by the Air Force; the service uses 2.6 billion gallons of aviation fuel every year, Anderson said in an interview. To conserve 10 percent--or 260 million gallons annually--the Air Force has created several fuel saving initiatives under its policy.

The policy recommends increasing the use of flight simulators as a substitute for live flying. "Quality simulation can often provide higher quality training than training routinely available in aircraft," the policy said. It directs Air Force major commands to track total hours of simulator use per month and to identify training "that can reasonably be accomplished in the simulator."

Modifications to flight routes and efficient cargo loading also are recommended as fuel-conservation techniques. Anderson said the Air Force will try...