All political issues aside, that is a terribly inefficient way to run an army. The military needs to get way more aggressive about embracing renewable energy. Soldiers, missions, and equipment would be more flexible; you would eliminate the need for a lot of convoy driving, which would save lives, equipment, and money; and a whole lotta pollution would be kept from the air.

I’m pragmatic about the world we live in and see the need for our nation to have a strong and kickass military. I have major problems with how it’s been abused by the Bush administration, but that aside- the U.S. Military has gotta be badass.

So why not do it in a way that is smart. Dump a ton of military R&D funds into advancing solar, wind, and thermal energy generation technology. Get advanced solar panels on top of every vehicle, develop panels that can be sewn into uniforms, and build single unit small scale energy power stations that use wind and solar. Consumers will feel the technology overflow love and the whole effort to green up this world will be that much further along.

Swing over to Mother Jones for to read more about the Military’s work to green itself up, also a quick post about how much of an energy hog the military is at the Seattle pi.

It wasn’t a fair fight at all, but for funsies, a vintage-car hill-climb allowed Forbes Magazine to enter a late model HUMMER H2. You know, just to see how the 316-hp, 4WD SUV would do against, say, a 100-hp 1921 Model T driven by a 70-year-old man. Like we said, it wasn’t fair at all.

The HUMMER climbed the 475-foot-tall hill in 10.74 seconds and didn’t even break a sweat. Among those not surprised at the HUMMER’s prowess was Gary Le Fever, the Model T driver who was waiting at the top of the hill for the H2. Le Fever and his 86-year-old Ford had finished the climb in 9.96 seconds!

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