Sobering Cost of Oil Addiction
A CNN Money report this week offered some sobering statistics on the true cost of our addiction to oil.
According to the report, about 3,000 of the Army casualties reported in Iraq between 2003 and 2007 were protecting fuel convoys. That is one out of eight killed or wounded during that time period. The report notes, “Among the many incentives pushing the military to use less oil, reducing the number of casualties it takes to protect vulnerable fuel convoys is one of the most important.” The military used 5.5 billion gallons of fuel in 2010, or 3,555 for each active military member. That compares to less than 1,000 gallons for U.S. civilians. The military uses a full 80% of the energy consumed by the federal government.
That’s why initiatives like the one announced this week by the U.S. Departments of the Navy, Energy and Agriculture to develop more aviation and marine biofuels are so important. Thanks to Stephanie Dreyer of Growth Energy for the tip on the CNN Money report. Check out her blog post on “Measuring our oil addiction by more than just Dollars and Cents”, about our nation’s risky dependence on Middle East oil and the dangerous impact it has on the lives of our military.
6 Comments »
Dennis Makarov
We are not addicted to oil.
We are instead addicted* to the luxuries that using huge amounts of energy give us. It’s just that right now, fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are the least expensive, most efficient, and most convenient ways of meeting our energy addiction.
When the cost of using other forms of energy drops below the cost and convenience of using fossil fuels, our energy addiction will begin drawing upon those sources.
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* Even corn farmers and ethanol plants are addicted to using huge amounts of energy, and most of the energy they use comes from fossil fuels.
Navy75
What are you trying to say,,if we go to Biofuels they wont need to be transported, and there convoys wont need to be guarded just like the oil based products were?
Trying to tie oil to their deaths and making out like biofuels would of prevented them is a little over the top.
Monte
WE HAVE A DOMESTIC SUPPLY CAPBLE OF CUTTING IN HALF OUR DEPENDCE ON FOERIGN OIL.
AGAIN ANOTEHR CNN REPORT THEN LEAVES OUT IMPORTANT FACTS WHICH IS TYPICAL
WE HAVE A GOVERNEMNT CATERING TO A RELIGIOUS CULT THAT ALL PREWACHES THAT ALL FORMS OF CARBON FUELS WILL DESTROY THE EARTH YET ONLY GOD CAN DESTROY TEH EARTH SO GOVERNEMNT CAN NOT SAVE TEH EARTH
OUR ADDICTION IS TO CHEAP FOREIGN OIL AND THE INEFFCIENT HIGH POWER INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE
ADDING TO THE PROBEM IS THE FUEL ADDTIVE ETHANOL WHCIJH CREATES OXIDES AND OZONE TO THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE HENCE OZONE WARNING BY YOUR LCOAL WEATHER PERSON
SOLAR; WIND; AND BATTERY STORAGE (TOTAL) WILL ONLY MAKE UP AT MOST 20% OF OUR ALTERNATIVE ENERGY FORMS IN THE FUTURE
ENTITLEMENTS CALL SUBSIDIES TO TO EXPAND FALSE IDOLS SUCH IDOLS AS WIND SUN AND LONTERM STORAGE OF ENERGY HAS CAUSED THE DOWNFALL OF EUROPE
ENVIRNMENTALIST TO DATE HAVE FAILED TO IDENTIFY THE TRUE OF GLOBAL WARMING WHCICH IS TEH MISUSE OF ALL TEH LAND ON PLANET EARTH AND THE DUE TO ALL THE MAN MADE STRUCTURES
FOR THE RECORD ENVIRONMETALIST WHNE CHALLENGE WILL NOT LIVE WITHOUT THE 6000 PLUS CARBON BY PRODUCT ITEMS THEY LIVE ON.
WHICH WOULD REQUIRE THEM TO SELL ALL OF THEIR WORDLY POSSESSIONS SEND ME THE MONEY AND LIVE OFF THE LAND
IF YOUA RE GOING TO WRITE AN ARTICLE PUBLISH THE CORRECT FACTS
END OF DISCUSSIONS
KBB
Why is it so hard for people to understand that what we do in the middle east is not only based on basic human rights but OIL. Why is it so hard to believe that putting Americans to work helping reduce dependency on oil in general by the utilization of bio energy in this country is GOOD. We are addicted to oil because it is all we’ve known for years and so much of what we have is based in part on petroleum. I do not think anyone is arguing the need for oil but there are many uses and to use it in our gas tanks is and to generate our energy should not be at the forefront. Use it to make the many things we need every day and power our homes, businesses and vehicles with a combination of fossil fuel and renewable or bio fuel.
Navy75
Because its a waste of time and money, want to break the dependance on middle east oil? Open up drilling in our own country. Want to spend money on the replacement for oil? Start finding ways to extract hydrogen from water at a cheaper price. Nuclear fusion reactors are right around the corner and when they come online the cost of the extraction of hydrogen from water will drop and we all will switch over to the true green renewable energy. So close to zero pollutions coming from the tailpipe of your car that you can breath the air coming out and drink the water. Can you say that about bio fuels?
Advanced BioFuels USA » The True Cost of the Military’s Oil Addiction
[...] killed or wounded in Iraq in 2003-2007 were protecting fuel convoys. READ MORE and MORE (CNN) and MORE [...]
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