In the Iraqi war zone, U.S. Army calls for 'green' power

[ECH1969]

Memo to Pentagon brass from the top United States commander in western Iraq: Renewable energy — solar and wind-power generators — urgently needed to help win the fight. Send soon.

Calling for more energy in the middle of oil-rich Iraq might sound odd to some. But not to Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, whose deputies on July 25 sent the Pentagon a "Priority 1" request for "a self-sustainable energy solution" including "solar panels and wind turbines."

The memo may be the first time a frontline commander has called for renewable-energy backup in battle. Indeed, it underscores the urgency: Without renewable power, U.S. forces "will remain unnecessarily exposed" and will "continue to accrue preventable ... serious and grave casualties," the memo says.

Apparently, the brass is heeding that call. The U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force (REF), which speeds frontline requests, is "expected soon" to begin welcoming proposals from companies to build and ship to Iraq 183 frontline renewable-energy power stations, an REF spokesman confirms. The stations would use a mix of solar and wind power to augment diesel generators at U.S. outposts, the spokesman says.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2006-09-07-army-green-power_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

[grytpype]

1. They're afraid their supply lines will be cut.

They have to truck in all their fuel from Kuwait. If those supply lines are cut, no more fuel, and we lose our technological advantage over the insurgents, period.

[Drum]

2. Wouldn't THAT be the ultimate irony:

As fear for crucial resources for their MegaBases and Mega-Embassy in Iraq reaches a near-frenzy, Bush administration throws open the doors to alternative energy methods, installing unprecedented numbers of solar panels and wind-powered turbines.

Again, the occupants of another country receive the meal that America is starving and crying for.
:shrug:

[hadrons]

3. bookmark this the next time a Repuke laughs at renewable-energy

[Peace Patriot]

4. Oh, I'll bet Halliburton and Bechtel--and maybe Chevron, Exxon-Mobile

& brethren--have had a few of those on the backburner for some time (--scooping up patents, gobbling up small companies, and, somewhere in the corporate dungeon, torturing a few holdout green inventors for their secrets).

People power is all. People power is everything. People power is the whole ballgame. And if we don't get people power back--by throwing Diebold, ES&S and all election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW--we can kiss this planet good-bye.