U.S. Military Wants To Be Oil-Free By 2050 (Stephen Trimble)

  It should come as no surprise that the U.S. Department of Defense is giving very serious thought to oil independence.

  Stephen Trimble -- Military.com 

  Feb. 28, 2007 -- The US military needs oil -- about 300,000 barrels a day -- to fight.

  Lots of oil comes from the same places where the military actually is fighting today, or may be fighting sometime in the not so distant future. (Hello, Iran?)

  Oh, the irony!

  It should come as no surprise then that the Department of Defense is giving very serious thought to oil independence. The notion is that the nation -- and particularly the military -- must have assured access to energy, and oil isn't such a safe bet any more.

  Champions of this concept are known to include John Young, DOD's director for Defense Research and Engineering; and Ron Sega, undersecretary of the Air Force and -- on Capitol Hill -- New York Republican Representative Steve Israel and Maryland Republican Representative Roscoe Bartlett.

  There's been some press about a highly-touted Air Force experiment using a synthentic base fuel (derived from natural gas pumped in from Oklahoma) to power one of the B-52's eight engines.

  But that's just kid-stuff, really.

  It's very clear that a much broader vision exists within DOD to really go ... all .. the ... way, and fast.

  The vision can be found in this master's thesis by Air Force Lt Col Michael J. Hornitschek, who originally published the document for the Air University's Center for Strategy and Technology. It has since been republished in the Air Force Journal of Logistics. It's a thesis, but it often reads like a very good Popular Science article.

  Here's a quick excerpt that explains the vision:

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