The Smog of war: U.S. Defense Department Is the nation's Biggest Energy Consumer

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You’ve seen images of them more and more in news reports as the Mideast situation heats up: U.S. battleships, fighters, bombers tanks, Humvees and so forth. And how are they powered? Yes, by gasoline and other oil-based fuels.

All which, plus the heating and cooling of its buildings and other factors, makes the Department of Defense the U.S.’s biggest energy consumer.

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According to the most recent Department of Defense Annual Energy Performance, Resilience, and Readiness report, “In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, the Department consumed 613,712 Billion British Thermal Units (BBtus) of total energy, costing a total of $16.5 billion, to support operations and training across a worldwide set of installations with thousands of energy consuming platforms. The DoD is the largest single energy consumer both in the United States (U.S.) and among the Federal Government.”

In addition, the Watson Institute reports that,.” U.S. military emissions are, in any one year, larger than the emissions of many countries.”

For some reason, the DoD does not identify a way to manage its energy consumption and emissions to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Except for a few small projects, the DoD is silent on the matter, though it has a climate “working group” that examines the damage done to the environment. However, based on the report, the group has no authority.