ENERGY ALTERNATIVES


experienced—the largest expansion of any military post in CONUS since World War II, Pittard said. The growth has made set- ting a baseline for usage difficult but not impossible, he said. “We’ve got momen- tum, and we’re going to keep going.”


The methods and lessons learned on permanent installations are helping to improve energy usage in contingency operations as well. “When we focus on energy conservation, energy reduction, and alternative energy, the efforts that we make in our permanent installations have application in theater as well,” Hammack said. “[Those efforts] act directly as a force multiplier, enabling people to spend their time engaged in the conflict versus fueling generators.”


POWER ON THE MOVE Vehicle power focuses on all Army vehicles—air, ground, tactical, and non- tactical—with an eye toward better fuel consumption, thermal systems manage- ment, and materials, Hammack said.


“The challenge we’ve had over the last 10 years is really balancing between vehicle protection and offering safer vehicles, and what that does to the performance of the vehicles in terms of mobility,” said Dr. Grace M. Bochenek, Director, U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC).


“And then that trickles down to what does that mean in terms of fuel efficiency.”


To address the fuel issue, all new Army vehicle programs have key performance parameters regarding energy expended on the platform in terms of fuel economy, whether in miles per gallon when mobile, or gallons per hour when stationary.


In addition, the creation of the Advanced Vehicle Power and Technology Alli- ance brings together the Army, the U.S.


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Department of Energy (DoE), and indus- try to combine knowledge, accelerate technology, and commercialize the tech- nology, Bochenek said.


She added that the Army is tackling vehicle efficiency with the use of DoE’s composite fiber program, making the Army the first to use the process of developing a commercial vehicle using carbon fiber material, in addition to heav- ily examining the use of alternative and synthetic fuels and the impact those fuels have on tactical and combat systems.


Another important program from TARDEC is the Fuel Efficient Ground Vehicle Demonstrator. “[It is] a real key program for us, and it was all about how do we drive and understand energy and energy efficiency on a platform,” Bochenek explained. “Our goal was to improve the M11-14 Humvee by 30 percent.”


That estimation is holding true, Bochenek said, based on a prediction of a 70 percent


THINKING ELECTRIC


SPC Dean Kalogris, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Fort Bliss, TX, charges an elec- tric car. Electric cars are just one of the initiatives that Fort Bliss is taking to achieve Net Zero status. (U.S. Army photo by MAJ Deanna Bague, Fort Bliss Public Affairs.)


increase in fuel economy during vehicle testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.


In nontactical vehicles, hybrids are a growing trend, said MG Al T. Aycock, Director of Operations, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management, and formerly Deputy CG and Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Installa- tion Management Command. The Army has “the largest fleet period, but the third- largest hybrid fleet” in the federal govern- ment, he said.


Aycock noted that 75 percent of the Army’s medium tactical vehicles are using alterna- tive fuels, and that the Army uses more E85 fuels—an ethanol blend commonly used by flex-fuel vehicles that produces less pollutant emissions such as carbon dioxide—than other federal agencies.


OPERATIONAL ENERGY Operational energy bridges all three areas—Soldier power, basing power, and vehicle power.


Army AL&T Magazine


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