Marine Lance Cpl. Dakota Hicks connects a radio battery to a solar array quickly hung on the side of a wall in Sangin District, in Afghanistan. AP Photo, From WSJ Keith Johnson
Marines from India Company, a component of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, have taken up to forty pounds of batteries out of the backpacks and replaced them with flexible, roll-up, solar collectors, says Keith Johnson, from the Wall Street Journal
Also, these new roll-up collectors are replacing fuel for generators that has been shipped to front lines in highly vulnerable helicopters and fuel trucks - favorite targets of our enemies. The Marines now wish to reduce per-Marine fuel use by 50% by 2020.
By allowing the troops to recharge their radios, GPS devices and other equipment, the green technology freed the Marines of India Company from constant resupply by road and air. And by carrying fewer batteries, they carried more bullets.
Batteries make up as much as 20% of the weight of the 100 pounds of gear a Marine infantryman typically carries. A Marine uses four times as much fuel as his counterpart did in the early 1990s—due to, among other things, laptops and other electronic gear that use electricity pumped out by portable generators.
General Richard Zilmer, then commader of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force initiated this push for non-fuel based renewable energy in reponse to a casualty rate of 1 US Service member wounded or killed for every 24 fuel convoys, reports Johnson.
"The Marine commandant made it clear—he'd rather have an 80% solution today than a 100% solution somewhere down the road," Col. Charette said. In less than nine months, scientists at the Office of Naval Research cobbled together a solar-and-battery combination small enough to be transported on Humvees, big enough to power the gear at a combat outpost, and rugged enough to withstand tough field conditions.
It also created smaller solar panels for individual Marines. Each can be unfurled to recharge equipment at the base or on the march. Some bits were jury-rigged, including power meters bought at Home Depot.
Col. Charette said the gear "has surpassed our expectations." Keeping extra batteries out of packs means the Marines can move faster and farther than before. Fuel use is down at the company's patrol bases, because the solar equipment replaces generators, the military says.
In some remote places solar power is the only power available.
This application was such as success, Marine officers are planning to meet the power needs of larger formations expected to be in place this summer.
Talk about quick implementation. When the US military decides it can achieve tactical battlefield advantages with solar power look how fast it happens. Maybe we should put these folks in charge of converting the US energy systems to modern, reliable, clean, renewable energy sources?
Let's convert the US to clean, efficient, reliable renewable energy, now.
Make it so!
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May I also call your attention to chuco35's inspiring story,
Why My Plunge Into Solar
Chuco35 ia a blog/editor at Kosowatt. A quick note to others Kosowatt members planning solar diaries. First publish your article to Kosowatt, and then we will immediately re-publish it to the whole Daily Kos site. This way your byline will include "Your Name For Kosowatt." If you are not a member yet, just send an email top me, or one of our other blog/admin, or blog/editors and we will make you a contributor, or editor, whichever you prefer, and get your article more attention, and accruing mutual glory for all of us. :-)
Senator Sanders Finds a GOP Ally for His 10 Million Solar Roofs Bill
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You can contact Keith Johnson of the Wall Street Journal, at keith.johnson@wsj.com
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