Billion Dollars Out of Thin Air

By George Martin Bammes April 2013

Executive Summary: The Department of Defense (DOD) has always been the proving ground for mass socioeconomic change. It was the first to desegregate; it was the first to introduce women in management roles; it was the pioneer into space, and it will be the first to have a sustainable energy structure. Effectively, the DOD is a scale model of the United States without the burdensome red tape involved in actual political economic change. The military follows is own laws and can do, pretty much, whatever it wants to within the confines of its budget. This is what Dwight Eisenhower was referring to when he said, The military industrial complex. That being said, the DOD has been restructuring its energy policy for a more sustainable future justified by tactical reasons. Since 1999, the DOD has published the, Annual Energy Management Report, which illustrates, in graphic detail, its goals, projects, and the intention to be energy sustainable. Unfortunately, like any government contract, the suppliers are more concerned with the price tag than the actual mission and its accomplishment. In this project, I intend to discuss a system of solutions that can greatly reduce energy consumption of the United States Military, to the extent that it will actually free over one billion dollars in wasted tax dollars. By doing so, I will create scaled models for corporations and their industrial structures so that eventually desiring companies can separate themselves from municipal grids, thus saving them unprecedented amounts of money in utilities and tax expenses. This project will be broken up into four scenarios: Camp Pendleton California, MCB 29 Palms California, Fort Sill Oklahoma, and Fort Hood Texas. These locations have been chosen for their vastly differing climates and how implementation of sustainable technologies can be deployed for industrial/corporate use in similar regions. Separation of Utilities and the Technology: The key to energy sustainability is the systematic separation from the dependency of mass commercial grids. This process is called smart grids. It is perfectly legal and there are considerable revenue potential and tax exemptions for doing so. The implementation of coal fire power plants on the premises of most industrial facilities is not an economically feasible concept; therefore, compact sustainable systems seem to be the only logical solution. Although the benefits of reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere have dramatic positive consequences for the earth and the people on it, this paper is only concerned with the idea that fossil fuels are more expensive than the natural processes of the solar, wind, and hydro power. As seen during the California energy crisis in 99-01, being dependent on a privately owned centralized grid is potentially catastrophic to a companys utilities expense. That is why it is in the best interest of fiduciary responsibility to separate themselves from such utility companies. This scenario is not unlike the DoDs position on energy independence for national security reasons. It is in their best interest not to be dependent on imported goods because a simple trade embargo could undermine the nations ability to defend itself, and in the world of market share, companies are no different than militaries. Fortunately, there have been many technological advances in the 21st century alone. I intend to implement a few of them in my model in order to advance the position of firms and demonstrate how the DoD (the largest single US consumer of fossil fuels) could become sustainable. These technologies are: the V-tera 1.8 mw wind turbine, the V-3 solar cell, C60

printable PV systems, Hydrogen combustion engines for car and jet engines, and Harvards artificial leaf technology for the mass production of hydrogen from natural water sources. The Problem: According the DoD annual energy management report of FY2010, (the height of combat operations in Afghanistan), the consumption across the system is as follows:

Figure 1 Pendleto Energy Consumption in BBTU DoD anulal energy management report 2011

For the first segment of this report, I will be primarily concerned with the, Facilities Energy, portion of the pie graph because it is the most easily translatable to the civilian world. The energy cost of 221,000 BBTU1 is equal to 64,768,706,347 kWh. The DoD does not pay retail industrial prices for their electricity, but at a national average of, 12.14625 cents /kwh,2 according to the US Energy Information Administration, that would amount to $786,696,899,467.25 in annual utilities cost. The perpose of this paper is to account for one billion of that. Camp Pendleton California: Camp Pendleton is a Marine Core Base located between Los Angeles and San Diego California. This is important because it has a similar climate and terrain as most of southern California which occupies a significant population density and economic center of commerce for the United States. It has abundant hydro technology potential due to its coastal location, but its solar potential is less than optimal due to the marine layer that dominates the majority of the day in the Pendleton region. Currently the Department of Defense is engaged with renewable energy efforts at Pendleton, but it primarily takes the form of photovoltaic projects such as the 11th Marine gun park roof structure shown in figure 2.

Wiley,Greg, Energy Reduction Strategies for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Department of Planning Policy and Design University of California Irvine, May 7, 2012, accessed on Aril 1, 2013 2 Michel Bluejay Inc., How Much Does Electricity Cost and How Much They Carge You http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cost.html , March 2013, accessed on April 15, 2013

Figure 2: Camp Pendleton Los Pulgas PV System, Poto taken by LCpl. Daniel Boothe, accessed from "Energy Reduction Stratagies for Camp Pendleton," by Gregory Wiley, accessed on April 13, 2013

Figure 2 can also be an example of the typical roof structure found on military bases. Later in this report, I will illustrate how the V-3 solar cells can greatly reduce the need for roof space normally required by PV systems. Another way for Pendleton to produce its own energy is the V-tera 1.8MW turbine. This technology has been greatly overlooked by the DoD because of possible complications with training activities. The unit stands at its maximum, with blades, at 190 meters from the ground. With Pendletons average wind speed of 12 mph at 150 meters it will require no more than 117 turbines throughout its over 200 square mile area to produce twice as much electricity than required to power the base, 383,352MMBTU3. 117 Turbines was calculated to have the maximum 5% transmission loss allotted by federal standards. Thus, with 117 Turbines costing $1,000,000 each, Camp Pendleton could save its $25,000,000 annual electricity budget4 indefinitely. MCB 29 Palms California

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Wiley, ( fully cited on prior page) accessed on April 1, 2013 Ibid, (Greg Wiley, Energy Reduction Strategies for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton,) accessed on April 1, 2013.

Twenty-nine Palms is a Marine Corps Training Base located in the Mojave Desert. Unlike Pendleton, its water resources are scarce, but its climate is the most conducive for solar energy. Unfortunately, the garrison part of the base is far separated from its training areas, creating a problem for long transmission lines to its training areas. Training areas such as Camp Wadi Al Sahara are spread out over 932 square miles of open impact area, where power lines run the risk of being damaged my training fire. Fortunately, the training areas require little to no electricity which make the V-3 solar cell the perfect Figure 3 The V3 Solar System, www.v3solar.com, accessed on April modular unit to support training activities. The unit shown in 14, 2013 figure 2 is a convex PV system designed to spin, simulating sunsets and sunrises thousands of times in one daily cycle. It is 200 times more concentrated than the traditional photovoltaic panel. One single unit contains a battery storage and can be networked together in small number to power warehouse like structures such as the training facilities, showers, squad bays and dining facilities. The Garrison portion of the base operates like any other Marine Corp base. It is centralized in one tight corner of the area and houses 30,000 Marines. This is a perfect opportunity to discuss the solar options the Marine Corp has to exist completely independent from any outside power source. As I said earlier, 29 Palms commands over 932 square miles of the Mojave Desert. It is in the best interest of the department of defense to build a concentrated solar facility. The Abu Dabi concentrated solar facility, owned by the Shams Power Company, produces 100MW of of power. It takes up 2.5 square km and can produce over three times the electricity needed to sustain MCB 29 Palms 30,000 Marines. According to the BBC it cost Shams Power Co. $600,000,000 which is half the price of the new Harrier jet.

Figure 4 The Shams 1 solar energy project in Abu Dhabi cost $600m (Source: Masdar)

Fort Sill Oklahoma and Fort Hood Texas

These two facilities bases are located in the wind capital of the United States. Ft. Sill is known for its constant high velocity wind, and Ft. Hood equally so. Fort Sill for example is the training ground for field artillery, chosen because of its constantly changing high velocity winds. Fort Hood is a heavily populated base with the same climate and can be an example for how large wind turbines can coexist with dense residential areas, being that the term, NIMBY, does not apply to military instillations. The differences between the two are that one is located in open country and the other is located amongst residential and commercial infrastructure. Current models for Fort Sills energy independence include the use of shale gas which is not sustainable and does more damage than actual good. This is proof that unlike the more ecologically conscious bases to the west, these two army instillations could gain a great deal from sustainable energy. Fort Sill consumed 1,466,910 MMBTU in natural gas in fiscal year 20095 according to the Department of Defense. With modern technology and the one of the highest natural wind speeds in the nation, this is unacceptable. The base commands large training and maneuver areas with long stretches of untrainable (no mans land) boarders, enough for wind turbines. 1,466,910MMBTU is equal to 42,990,890kWh at $9.57MMBTU according to the US Department of Energy6. With a total annual cost of $14,038,328.70, The department of the army could greatly benefit from producing the energy themselves. The base itself does not have the room for 21,496 2MW turbines, thus the energy infrastructure must be divided amongst several forms of renewable energy. Due to its almost constant overcast weather, PV panels would only be efficient during the prime summer months. Fort Sill must construct small building structured wind turbines throughout is base, powering individual units. According to the National weather center, with 21 samples, Fort Sill has an average ground wind speed of 15.7.4mph7. With the flat terrain and characteristics of their base, that is enough to power individual structures with horizontal wind turbines. These technologies would greatly affect Fort Hood energy independence as well. Fort Hood with 10 samples from the national weather center has an average ground wind speed of 14.7mph8. With the combination of large and small wind turbines, both of these bases could dramatically reduce their use of natural gas for electricity. Conclusion In this report, the evidence concludes that hundreds of millions of dollars could be saved with timely renovations to the infrastructure of these bases. All of these technologies are available for civilian use and are subject to generous government subsidy for doing so. As a result, the answer to profitability in energy is so separate entire industrial structures, subdivisions, and economic centers from municipal grids. Bases the size of cities can effectively eliminate fossil fuel dependent energy infrastructures. The answer is not Terawatts but one megawatt at a time. This report encompasses a structured example of separating four specific bases, housing a total of over 140,000 people, off coal and natural gas for electricity purposes,
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Department of Energy, Renewable Energy Opportunities at Fort Sill Oklahoma, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, March, 2011, accessed on April 16, 2013. 6 Ibid, Renewable Energy Opportunities at Fort Sill Oklahoma, accessed on April 16, 2013. 7 National weather center, Fort Sill Aviation and Weather Forcast Air Sports Net, http://www.usairnet.com, April 16, 2013, accessed on April 16, 2013. 8 National Weather center, Killeen/Fort Hood weather, The weather channel, http://www.weather.com, Aril 16, 2013, accessed on April, 16, 2013.

and if energy dependence can be shifted for military, it can be shifted for business. Renewable energy eventually pays for itself. Companies are wasting money on utility expenses, and with carefully implemented plans, those firms can find new opportunities for their chosen market.