US Navy Spartan Energy Ethos Means Biofuels (Four Commercial-Scale Biorefineries) and Energy Efficiency for the Fleet and the Country. For How Long? In Perpetuity ...

April 14, 2011

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by Robert E. Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA) On April 12^th at the Navy League’s 2011 Sea-Air-Space Exposition, the leaders of the US Navy’s 50% petroleum reduction by 2020 program honed in on what it means for the Navy and for the nation.
At a seminar called "Energy Opportunities: Creating Corporate Partnerships with the Sea Services," Thomas W. Hicks, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy), and Rear Admiral Philip H. Cullom, Director, Chief of Naval Operations, Energy and Environmental Readiness Division laid out the Navy’s bold vision. Program details, which include plans for funding four commercial scale biorefineries were also presented.
(The panel also included Vice Admiral Michael C. Vitale, Commander, Navy Installations Command, Jeffrey G. Orner, US Coast Guard, Deputy Assistant Commandant for Engineering & Logistics, and Joseph A. Byrne, U.S. Maritime Administration, Associate Administrator for Environment and Compliance.)

Thomas Hicks’ Presentation
Thomas Hicks, who previously had developed the LEED building rating system at the US Green Building Council, has been given the job by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus of making the Navy energy efficient and not dependent on oil imported from countries “that don’t share our values” (Hicks’ words). As the appointed civilian leader of this initiative his job description is simple to describe but hard to accomplish; get the funding, get the projects started, meet the fuel cost and efficiency goals.

Hicks explained that the Navy has to institute energy changes at their installations and in their tactical operations. Twenty-five percent of the Navy’s energy is used at installations and seventy-five percent is use by aircraft and ships in tactical operations. Since the tactical side of the equation is a major potential biofuel market, this article will focus on the Navy’s tactical program.

Energy efficiency and new alternative fuel supplies are the Navy’s approaches to the tactical fuel problem.

Efficiency first is the Navy’s goal said Hicks. This includes rethinking ship energy demands and making system improvements. Two programs Hicks cited were hull coatings that decreased resistance and hybrid electric drive systems that reduced fuel use. The first operational hybrid system has been installed on the USS Makin Island, a large amphibious operations ship, and work on a Burke destroyer hybrid system is currently underway on the USS Truxtun. (Combat ships, like cars, change speeds a lot. An electric hybrid system allows a ship turbine to run at an optimal fuel conserving constant speed while acceleration and extra mission demands are handled by electric motors powered by batteries charged during low demand.)
Current progress on the fuel side, Hicks said, includes the F/A-18 E/F Green Hornet being in certification testing for the 50 percent Camelina Bio-JP-5 fuel mixture and the shipboard Allison 501K turbine being tested with a 50 percent biofuel mixture.

Mr. Hicks then got to the main issue at hand: the Navy’s specific biofuel requirements. They can be simply thought of as three rules.

Navy Rule #1: All Navy non-petroleum fuels MUST BE ready-to-use drop-in replacements for current J-5 jetfuel and shipboard F-76 diesel. The Navy will not make any changes in infrastructure or engines.

Navy Rule #2: Supply The Great Green Fleet. This Fleet has been designated by Secretary Mabus as the fighting force that will get the Navy beyond its reliance on petroleum fuels. Initial operations of a Green Strike Force will begin in 2012 and the entire Great Green Fleet will be operational by 2016.

Hicks stated the biofuel demand for this fleet as:

Year	Biofuel Demand
2012	8,000 bbl (320,000 gallons)
2016	80,000 bbl (3,200,000 gallons)
2020	8 million bbl (320 million gallons)

Navy Rule #3: Biofuels prices must be comparable to petroleum prices. When asked about how comparable prices had to be after the session, Mr. Hicks made the following points. He said that while we know there is a national security value to biofuels, it hasn’t been commodified. So, the Navy would not be able to pay much of a premium above petroleum fuels for biofuels.

Hicks continued his talk with a discussion about the partnerships that would help the Navy meet their biofuel demand and price targets. He mentioned the usual intergovernmental partners, DOE, USDA, and SBA, and gave special mention to the partnership between DOD and the Airlines Transport Association (ATA) on the development of commercial bio jetfuel. He thought this international partnership would give impetus to multiple biofuel crops reaching commercial volumes.

He then brought up probably the best news the advanced biofuel industry has heard in a while. Building on the lead role the President recently gave the Navy to reduce the country’s dependence on oil, he announced that the Navy was scheduled to fund four commercial scale Navy fuel biorefineries in partnership with the alternative fuel industry. While he wasn’t able to present any details because of uncertainties with the FY2012 budget, he was clear, both in his presentation and in later questions, that this biorefinery project was the keystone of the Navy’s Energy program.

Hicks closed with a historical reminder that the US Navy had taken the lead in the transformation from sail to coal, from coal to oil, and had made nuclear propulsion a reality. He said the US Navy would continue to lead the way to an efficient, non imported oil future.

Rear Admiral Philip H. Cullom’s Presentation
As Director of the Energy and Environmental Readiness Division, Admiral Cullom reports to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) who is the leader of the of the US Fleet. With limited funding and the need to get all stakeholders within and outside the Navy going in the same direction, Adm. Cullom, a graduate of Annapolis and a holder of a Harvard MBA degree, will have more than enough opportunities to bring his Fleet command experience and management education to bear on this energy transformation.
Collum’s first strategy has been to frame the transformation to energy efficiency as an ethos (the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community or nation) transformation, and not just another way to fuel ships and planes. As Collum presented it, a Spartan ethos has to be embraced by the Navy when it comes to energy -- Energy Smart equals Spartan. Operationally, he stressed that by adopting this ethos the Navy would become more combat capable since they would have less of an energy tether. Flexible energy sources to Collum means the “smallest supply tail” and the lowest lifecycle costs.

As for how long this change in ethos should last, Adm. Collum was very clear. “In perpetuity,” he said several times.

On establishing partnerships within this new ethos he stressed the need to define upfront what were the common grounds, and what were individual goals or agendas of the people or entities involved and he called for the need to “deconflict the battlespace” on internal US government energy issues.

He identified the primary problems that will occur as improvements in energy efficiencies and flexibility began to take hold as; 1) new surges in energy use, and 2) competition for available energy. To illustrate these points he cited Jevon’s Paradox and the energy implications of Moore’s Law.

In simple terms, Jevon’s Paradox states that More Efficiency tends to equal More Energy Use. For example; in cars, boats, or airplanes, increases in engine efficiency usually translate into more powerful engines that result in faster acceleration, higher speeds and therefore more fuel consumption.

Moore’s Law, which states that the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on a chip doubles about every two years (exponential growth) has a significant energy effect. As the number of transistors increase, energy demand increases proportionately.

Therefore, as part of the Spartan, or Smart Energy ethos, the US Navy will have to build energy use vigilance into all decision making. Adm. Collum showed the implication of this on DOD acquisition policies. Currently, he pointed out, the analysis of alternatives and the balancing of performance and energy requirements are not part of DOD acquisition decision making. He called for both, the analysis of alternatives and the balancing of performance and energy requirements to be the center of all acquisition processes.

As for his definition of alternative fuels, he stated that to be considered by the US Navy they would had to have lower GHG emissions than petroleum equivalents and could not have negative effects on food prices or supplies. That sounds like a working definition of Advanced Biofuels. It would also seem to rule out natural gas feedstocks from “unconventional” shale sources that have been identified by EPA as having GHG emissions comparable to coal, which are higher than oil. See also Cornell study

He also proposed “Cullom’s Corollary” on the use of fuels. It states that: For the Foreseeable Future Energy Dense Liquids would be Required for the Navy’s Tactical Forces.

Cullom closed with two final thoughts. He thought the Spartan energy ethos should not only be a guide for the Navy but should be a guide for the nation as well. And, as it should be a path for the Navy in perpetuity, it should also be for the nation.
READ MORE (National Defense) and MORE (Biofuels Digest)