Alternative Fuel Use by the Department of Defense: Initiatives & Opportunities

This book provides background information and identifies issues for Congress regarding Department of Defense (DOD) alternative fuel initiatives, an issue of considerable attention during hearings in 2012 on DOD’s FY2013 budget. Ongoing alternative fuel efforts of the DOD and the military services include purchases of alternative fuels for testing and evaluation, as well as the certification of alternative fuels for use in service fleets. In addition, the Navy, in co-ordination with the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture, intends to spur domestic advanced biofuel production at a commercial scale using the authority of the Defense Production Act. The services (Army, Navy, and Air Force) have spent approximately $48 million on alternative fuels, and the Navy has proposed a $170 million investment in biofuel production capacity. An overview of the DOD’s alternative fuels policy and data on DOD’s alternative fuels purchase to date, as well as the status of testing platforms on alternative fuel blends and the certification of those blends for fleet-wide use within the services is also discussed.