Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
FNC
April 3, 2008
Fox Report With Shepard Smith, 7:00 PM
SHEPARD SMITH, FNC ANCHOR: Americans in Iraq feeling the pain at the pump just like we are here in the U.S. And now the United States Air Force says it's going to do something about it. It's going green. The Air Force says it plans to use fuel made in part with trash from the landfills. And the Air Force isn't alone really. The Pentagon says each month in Iraq, the U.S. military overall spends more than $150 million on fuel -- just in Iraq -- and burns through more than 50 million gallons of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel every month. So going green could save some green. Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon tonight. Man, that's a lot of gas.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN: That's a lot of gas. The Defense Department is the single largest consumer of energy in the United States, Shep. And since 2004, the Pentagon is spending nearly twice what it was spending in 2004 for fuel for operations in Iraq. It's doubled to nearly $13 billion.
And Army vehicles are so fuel inefficient that it is even raising eyebrows here in the Pentagon, where budgets are huge. A standard armored transport Humvee gets -- for instance -- 4 miles to the gallon. A Bradley Fighting Vehicle gets just 1 mile to the gallon. The Air Force, which uses half of all the energy consumed by the military, has taken the lead, however, winning an EPA Green Power award. It recently tested a new 50/50 synthetic blend of fuel in a B-52 bomber, and its chief says all of its air fleet will be using this greener fuel by 2011.
Last month, it successfully tested this greener fuel in a B-1 bomber and a C-17 transport plane at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Airmen and their families have been generating electricity from trash since 2004. The military's about to send to bases in Iraq, Shep, several bio mass refineries like these that were designed by Defense Life Sciences, that's a contractor in McLean, Virginia, and researchers at Purdue University. Organic garbage is put in one side to create ethanol. Plastic and paper products are put in the other side to create propane. The two are then combusted in a diesel engine. A ton of trash can provide a village with electricity for 20 hours.
Marines in Anbar province hope that they can get some of these generators. That way they'll be able to cut down on the fuel convoys that they have to protect in the volatile province. And then they'll be able to basically take their trash at their bases and turn it into electricity. Shepard.
SMITH: Alright, Jen Griffin live at the Pentagon.
April 3, 2008
Fox Report With Shepard Smith, 7:00 PM
SHEPARD SMITH, FNC ANCHOR: Americans in Iraq feeling the pain at the pump just like we are here in the U.S. And now the United States Air Force says it's going to do something about it. It's going green. The Air Force says it plans to use fuel made in part with trash from the landfills. And the Air Force isn't alone really. The Pentagon says each month in Iraq, the U.S. military overall spends more than $150 million on fuel -- just in Iraq -- and burns through more than 50 million gallons of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel every month. So going green could save some green. Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon tonight. Man, that's a lot of gas.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN: That's a lot of gas. The Defense Department is the single largest consumer of energy in the United States, Shep. And since 2004, the Pentagon is spending nearly twice what it was spending in 2004 for fuel for operations in Iraq. It's doubled to nearly $13 billion.
And Army vehicles are so fuel inefficient that it is even raising eyebrows here in the Pentagon, where budgets are huge. A standard armored transport Humvee gets -- for instance -- 4 miles to the gallon. A Bradley Fighting Vehicle gets just 1 mile to the gallon. The Air Force, which uses half of all the energy consumed by the military, has taken the lead, however, winning an EPA Green Power award. It recently tested a new 50/50 synthetic blend of fuel in a B-52 bomber, and its chief says all of its air fleet will be using this greener fuel by 2011.
Last month, it successfully tested this greener fuel in a B-1 bomber and a C-17 transport plane at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Airmen and their families have been generating electricity from trash since 2004. The military's about to send to bases in Iraq, Shep, several bio mass refineries like these that were designed by Defense Life Sciences, that's a contractor in McLean, Virginia, and researchers at Purdue University. Organic garbage is put in one side to create ethanol. Plastic and paper products are put in the other side to create propane. The two are then combusted in a diesel engine. A ton of trash can provide a village with electricity for 20 hours.
Marines in Anbar province hope that they can get some of these generators. That way they'll be able to cut down on the fuel convoys that they have to protect in the volatile province. And then they'll be able to basically take their trash at their bases and turn it into electricity. Shepard.
SMITH: Alright, Jen Griffin live at the Pentagon.