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U.S. Should Not Surrender Clean Energy Technology To China
by David Vergun, DOD News
August 26, 2022
Richard Kidd, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment
& Energy Resilience, spoke at the
virtual GovExec 2022 Climate Summit ... stating that China has made
it very clear that clean energy technology also results in
geostrategic power.
China has invested in a
whole range of clean energy technologies, he said. "The United
States cannot surrender that lead to any other country and expect to
remain a preeminent global power."
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Passengers exit an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III
aircraft at McMurdo Station in Antarctica on September 14,
2020. The aircraft and its crew ferried passengers and cargo
between New Zealand and Antarctica in support of the 2020-21
Operation Deep Freeze mission. (U.S. Air Force photo
courtesy of 94th Airlift Wing – Pacific Air Forces Public
Affairs)
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The Defense Department is
investing in a range of technologies that will help keep pace with
or stay out in front of China, technologies that will assist troops
in contested operations, and technologies that will also mitigate or
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
The department
only invests in clean energy technologies that will also have
mission benefits, Kidd said.
Clean Energy Technologies With
Mission Benefits
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Microgrids, solar power and batteries have
dramatically helped reduce fuel deliveries in remote combat sites
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Making aircraft more efficient through things like blended wing
design to increase lift
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Small nuclear power reactors might be
used in the future for installation power
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Research is being
conducted in DOD on the use of lasers or directed-energy weapons
systems
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Longer term aspirations include power beaming,
space-based power and robotic delivery of stored energy on the
battlefield
"There's still a gap between where we want to be
and the technology that we currently have. So there's going to have
to be tremendous additional investment in technology," Kidd said,
mentioning that DOD investments for mission success would likely
have benefits to the U.S. commercial sector.
For example,
DOD has about 30% of the microgrid market and that can have positive
spillover effects for industry and consumers, he said.
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A new 350 kilowatt-hour solar array was installed near the
Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Air Force Base, Utah on June
25, 2021. Rocky Mountain Power built the array and will own
and operate it for the next 25 years as part of its Blue Sky
program. The base will add the energy generated to its power
grid. (U.S. Air Force photo be Cynthia Griggs, Hill Air
Force Base)
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In
addition to new technologies, Kidd mentioned the adverse effects of
climate change on troops, equipment and installations, whether from
droughts, flooding or heat waves.
"We're playing a range of
war games now where energy and climate are factored into the war
games. The climate helps set the scenario and energy is contested,"
Kidd said, meaning under enemy attack.
"We recognize that we
will not be able to move energy in an unconstrained manner around
the battlefield the way we've been able to do in the past," he
added.
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Note: Minor editing without impacting
facts.
U.S. Department
of Defense
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