re: #115 Obdicut

That jibes with the fact that the military is the single largest consumer of petroleum in the country and a study commissioned by the Pentagon in 2007 to look at reduction techniques had noted the importance of reducing reliance on petroleum products.

The USAF has been testing biofuels to operate aircraft.

Under the Air Force’s current energy plan, the goal is to acquire 50 percent of the domestic aviation fuel from an alternative blend by 2016. Terry Yonkers, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, said in a statement the goal was to encourage a major shift in the way the service powers its aircraft. “Our goal is to reduce demand, increase supply and change the culture and mindset of our fuel consumption,” he said.

The Air Force is the largest user of jet fuel within the Department of Defense, and plans to have all of the aircraft in its inventory certified to fly using alternative fuels by the end of 2012. The current fleet of aircraft consumes 2.4 billion gallons of jet fuel per year. The A-10 test flight went well with “no problems whatsoever” according to the pilot.

Moving to more efficient airframes will help as well (supercruise modes on the new F-22 and F35 will reduce fuel consumption to go at high mach speeds for instance) that also can increase range.

The Army has been working on fuel cell technologies to replace various generator plants.

Faster, please.