There is a good conversation going on over in another corner of the web about the key hurdles that the White House faces in getting climate change legislation through the Senate. One of the issues I raised in that context is that outside of the Northeast and West Coast, climate change is still a “granola” issue and that supporters will need to grab on to some other arguments (i.e., national security, peak oil and the economy, etc.) if they are going to get a win. That change in tone began in earnest with Sunday’s NYT front-pager, but just because it is smart politics does not make it good policy.

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A report released by the group Center for Naval Analyses quoted former top-ranking generals and admirals saying that dependence on foreign oil and failure to make the national grid compatible with renewable energy sources is a serious threat to the security of the United States.

Oil continues to be the primary source of energy generation in the United States. But more significant is the source of the oil that America consumes. The problem with the energy production in the United States is that it is not only heavily dependent on fossil fuels but also on imported fossil fuels. As the report noted, America’s armed forces are big consumers of oil and they have been highly active for the last decade of so, further increasing the oil consumption and import from other countries. The situation puts America in an uneasy situation since it has become heavy dependent on foreign fuel.

Since that time [1980s], the total volume of oil imported to the United States has nearly tripled. That dependence weakens U.S. international leverage, undermines foreign policy and threatens economic stability, the report finds, noting that well more than half of top oil companies are wholly or majority-owned by foreign states and are located in countries like Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

Energy resources have become an instrument to wield power and influence in the world, a fact explicitly demonstrated by Russia when it cut gas supplies to Georgia and Europe. Last year experts had warned of an spectacular rise in oil prices in case Iran attempts to blockade the sea routes in the Middle East, a small but real possibility of which continues to persist even today.

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Coupled with economics, dwindling natural resources, and the dangers of transporting fuel in war zones (half of all US casualties in Iraq are from attacks on fuel carrying convoys), the military plans to spend economic stimulus money on alternative fuels and energy conservation.

Traditionally, the Department of Defense has cared little about saving money. The recent shift towards alternative fuels as a military priority is an effort to reduce casualties rather than save natural resources or funds. “The honest-to-God truth, the most compelling reason to do it is it saves lives,” said Brigadier General Steven Anderson, director of operations and logistics for the Army.  Saving money, preserving dwindling natural resources and lessening U.S. dependence on foreign sources are lesser priorities of the alternative fuels and energy conservation initiatives.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have set the record for the most fuel consumption of any war in US history.  Since the War on Terror began in 2001, the amount of oil consumption has increased from 50 million gallons to 500 million gallons a year at bases.  Using Economic Stimulus Package money, the Pentagon has several alternative fuels and energy saving projects planned.

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The Pentagon intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant blimp which will reach an altitude of 65,000 feet and remain airborne for 10 years. The dirigible will be filled with helium and powered by an innovative system that uses solar panels to recharge hydrogen fuel cells.

“It is absolutely revolutionary,” Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force, said of the proposed unmanned airship — describing it as a cross between a satellite and a spy plane. The aircraft will provide intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below.

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Cree Inc. will be fitting Wedge 5 of the Pentagon with over 4,000 LED light fixtures.The U.S. Department of Energy said that LED lighting saved the country about 8.7 trillion watt hours in 2007. This is out of the 765 trillion watt hours used for lighting in the United States.

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In a secret report,President Bush has been warned that rioting, nuclear war, rising seas that will sink costal cities are just a few of the calamities the will befall earth in 20 years if global warming continues.The Observer says it has obtained a copy of the report, which was commissioned by Pentagon defense adviser Andrew Marshall.

The report, according to Jeremy Symons, a former EPA employee, was suppressed for four months by the White House. President Bush has been under increasing pressure to pay some attention to the apparent growing evidence that global warming is an almost immediate threat to humanity.

Here are some of the dire predictions in the report:

• Millions of lives will be lost in wars and natural disasters.
• Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas.
• Britain’s climate will become “Siberian”.
• “Abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies”.
• “The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism”
• “Warfare would define human life”
• Widespread flooding of coastal areas of the United States would create a major upheaval for millions.

Not a very pleasant look at the future.

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Dr. Richard Gross, chemistry professor at Polytechnic University, is already working on creating bioplastic - plastics derived from plant based oils rather than petroleum. Then, using a naturally occuring enzyme, he breaks down this bioplastic turning it into fuel.

The production of the bioplastics-for-fuel requires use of the same amount of plant-based oil that would otherwise be needed for the production of biodiesel. The bioplastic would be an intermediate stage for this fuel.

The Pentagon has given researchers an additional $2.34 million to further develop this technology, as it would save the military money if it proved successful.

The technique could reduce the amount of material that the military has to ship to soldiers at remote bases, because the plastic would do double duty, first as packaging and then as fuel. It would also reduce trash disposal problems, according to the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, known as Darpa.

This technology could face the same problems as the biofuels market, but if it becomes a viable option and successful for military purposes it would only be a matter of time before it hit the consumer market.

Via the New York Times