The Clinton Global Initiative is all about forging partnerships between industry and non-governmental organizations, focused on sustainable economic development. It is not the sort of place you'd expect to find a discussion of the challenges of military deployments. Yet this year's CGI meeting featured a talk by someone who spends his days at the Pentagon, as the US Navy's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Thomas Hicks told the audience how the Navy has taken sustainable technology from testing to deployment in six months, and is gearing up to make the largest purchase of biofuels ever.

Saying "We rely too much on foreign oil," Hicks told two parallel tales of how the Navy was pushing ahead with sustainable technology. The first focused on the support of US Marines (ground troops that are part of the Navy) in forward bases in Afghanistan. The electronics that now support the Marines require significant amounts of electric power which, in the past, has meant diesel generators. That, in turn, has meant a series of tenuous ground convoys that start in Pakistan and face frequent insurgent attacks on the way to their destination. The Navy estimates that it costs one life for every 50 of the convoys they run.

To cut down on fuel use, the Navy created what they termed an experimental forward operating base, or ExFOB, in Virginia. Industry was invited to bring in any technology that could cut fuel use or generate power on site, and try to integrate it into an existing base's architecture. Not everything worked, but those technologies that did were brought to a wargame two months later. Within six months, the first field deployment occurred. That's a pretty rapid pace by most standards.

The technology involved is nothing revolutionary—LED lighting and shades with integrated photovoltaic systems—but the reductions were very substantial: 30 percent to 90 percent reductions in energy use. More significantly, patrols that were in the field used to require fresh batteries roughly every other day. They can now go up to three weeks without a battery refresh. The first deployments were so successfully that the Marines are rolling it out in all their battalions. It will require a substantial initial payment, but the program will pay for itself within six months, and provide $50 million in savings annually from there on out. The ExFOBs are now an annual event for the Marines.

Some of that technology is also showing up at regular installations. Hicks showed images of photovoltaic roofs over parking spaces at various installations, and said the goal is to have half the service's bases at net zero energy use by the end of the decade.

Although it's a lot easier to safely refuel ships and planes, these make up the bulk of the Navy's substantial fuel intake, which amounts to 30 million barrels annually. Last year, the cost per barrel went up by $38, creating a serious budget crunch. "We can't let others dictate whether we fly or sail," Hicks said, which means developing sources of domestic fuel. Due to a law enacted during the Bush administration, the Navy is prohibited from developing fuels that will have higher carbon emissions than petroleum, which means options like tar sands and processed coal aren't viable solutions. (It is also avoiding anything that may compete with our food supply, so no crop-based fuels are used.)

The same law dictates that the fuel cost must be equal to petroleum. This has led the Navy to partner with the Departments of Energy and Agriculture to foster a $500 billion program to develop and scale domestic biofuels, including emerging sources like algal and bacterial fuels.

Its planes and ships have engines that span decades' worth of technology, and the military is never going to refit them all; instead, it has focused on fostering the development of drop-in replacements such as biodiesel, and is working to use them in a 50/50 mix with traditional fuels. In the process of its initial testing, the Navy has become one of the largest biofuel customers in the world; next year, it plans on doing operational testing of a "green fleet" that will involve the largest purchase of non-ethanol biofuels ever. If things continue according to plan, a green fleet deployment could follow by 2016.

Hick wrapped up by noting that, over the course of its history, the US Navy has shifted from wind to coal to petroleum and added nuclear power to its mix. During these transitions, it often had to build domestic industries where none existed before, in order to ensure a reliable and secure supply of equipment and fuel. From his perspective, biofuels are simply the latest transition, and may end up being one of the least disruptive. While Hicks didn't explicitly state was that a lot of this technology eventually benefitted the civilian population; biofuels certainly have the potential to do so as well.