In a bid to reduce dependence on foreign oil and by 2020 obtain half of its energy from alternative sources, an initiative entitled the ‘Great Green Fleet’, which contains the first fleet of navy warships to be powered by alternative biofuels including cattle fat, was launched recently, according to Fox News.
Lieutenant Chika Onyekanne, a Navy Spokeman, said: “The ‘Great Green Fleet’ highlights how the Navy and Marine Corps are transforming our energy use to increase our combat capability, operational flexibility and resiliency so that we can go farther, stay longer and deliver more firepower.”
Ray Mabus, Navy Secretary for the US, said: “It gives us a war fighting edge. Energy can be used as a weapon. We need an American home grown source of alternative energy.
“We need one that is not subject to the wild price swings of conventional fuel, which are set in the world market. We need ones that can’t be used against us.”
Alternative fuel is also on the agenda for many shipping lines, especially in line with the recent COP21 conference in Paris, which was a key conference discussing the ways in which industries can lower their carbon footprint.
Technical Paper: LNG as a ship fuel: perspectives and challenges
Michael McAdams, President of trade group Advanced Biofuels Association, concluded: “What the Navy is doing here is catalysing and driving an industry that will have far broader applications than the theatre of war.”
