Launch of the Great Green Fleet

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January 22, 2016

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) $2.05 per gallon for drop-in, non-food advanced biofuels blends. Who would have thought it possible a few years ago. Well, the Navy for one. Their remarkable vision results in Carrier Strike Group 3 operating in a world where “energy can no longer be used as a weapon against us.”

After 7 years of wrangling, vision, exhaustion, invention, improvisation, and a good helping of plain ol’ hangin’ on, the Great Green Fleet embarked on its first regular operations from Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.

Each of the ships in Carrier Strike Group Three (supporting the USS John C. Stennis) will be deploying numerous “energy conservation measures” and the destroyers, cruisers and support craft will be steaming on renewable fuels blends, on the heels of the Navy’s 77 million gallon renewable fuel purchase from AltAir.

“It makes us more green, but that’s a side benefit,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus at a dockside ceremony that included US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and San Diego members of congress Susan Davis and Scott Peters. “The Great Green Fleet represents innovations that make us better warfighters.

As Mabus explained to The Digest, “For example, the USS Makin Island (LHD-8) (a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship) with its hybrid engines, was able to stay at sea 44 days more than previously, and returned with half its fuel. Those investments that were made in imported fuels can now be redeployed into operations, and readiness. That’s important for America.”

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“We announced in 2009 that we would demonstrate the Great Green Fleet in 2012 and sail in 2016. And when we demonstrated the new fuels in 2012, we bought small quantities of experimental fuels. And we paid $26 per gallon, and some people said “you’ll never make this affordable.”

“So here we are, in 2016, sailing the Great Green Fleet, and we paid $2.05 per gallon for the largest renewable fuel contract ever made. Let me repeat that. $2.05 per gallon. Even in these times of low oil prices, that’s cost-competitive. And that’s 13 times less expensive than just four years ago.”

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By contrast, the Navy paid $4 billion in 2013 for 1.3 billion gallons of fuel, according to Mother Jones. That’s $3.03 per gallon.

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Energy security the focus. As Secretary of the Navy Mabus emphasizes, it’s not a green measure, but an efficiency and effectiveness measure designed to save money for operations and readiness, protect the Navy against cost spikes in oil, and prevent the Navy from being sidelined by oil shortages.

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It’s military F-76 diesel, not available from your local gas station. This is F-76 diesel, a military fuel spec designed around the needs of operating ships at sea. So, it’s not quite conventional diesel, and should not be compared to the market prices for conventional distillates. READ MORE / MORE and MORE (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) and MORE (Biomass Magazine) and MORE (International Business Times) and MORE (RT.Com) and MORE (Fox News) and MORE (The Guardian)

The Digest’s 8-link Great Green Fleet Backstory

2016: Navy to launch Great Green Fleet with 77 million gallon buy of cost-competitive, non-food advanced biofuels blends

2015: Rocky Mountain/West Coast/Offshore fuel buy opens for bids.

2014: Procurement begins: USDA, US Navy unveil Farm to Fleet program: Navy “open for business” as shift to biofuels blends begins

2013: Phase 1 grants towards building capacity: DoD awards $16M towards parity-cost, drop-in, non-food biofuels

2012: The Demonstration that the fuels work: The Navy’s Green Strike Group sails on biofuels blend

2012: Outlining the strategy: The Obama plan for cost-competitive, military biofuels

2010: First big steps towards use at scale: 17 Steps the US military is taking to advance, use, and advocate for biofuels

More Backstory on partners, awards, certification, and buying programs

Buying program. US Navy approves biofuels MILSPECs, opens Pacific fuel buy
Performance. Can warplanes fly farther, carry more weapons, with advanced biofuels? More new data.
Performance. US warplanes can fly faster, carry additional weapons load using advanced fuels and biofuels: new data
Awards and partners. Cobalt partners with US Navy to make jet fuel from biobutanol
Awards and partners. The Battle of the Beltway: DoD awards $16M towards parity-cost, drop-in, non-food biofuels
Awards and partners. Solazyme completes algal jet fuel delivery to US Navy
Certification. Coast Guard ship completes first biofuel-powered voyage in prep for Navy Great Green Fleet demo
Certification. The Navy’s Green Strike Group sails on biofuels blend: will it sail again?
Certification. Shock wave: Camelina biofuels break sound barrier in Navy F-18 trial
Certification and program overview. Join the Navy and Free the World: A special report on military biofuels

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Launch of the Great Green Fleet

The Digest’s 8-link Great Green Fleet Backstory

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