Animal fat, algae could fuel US aircraft
By ANIThursday, July 15, 2010
WASHINGTON - The US military could use Algae, vegetable oil and animal fat to power its aircraft with the aim of reducing 20 billion dollars in fuel costs.
According to Fox News, the Air Force is the largest fuel-guzzling organization on the planet.
As well as transporting troops and cargo around the world, an average fighter aircraft mission uses 11,000 to 19,00 litres of fuel.
The US Navy was planning to have every aircraft and all escort ships powered by a 50-50 mix of standard jet fuel and biofuel by 2016. The carriers are nuclear-powered “so that’s already alternative”, said Rear Admiral Philip Cullom, the head of the Navy’s Task Force Energy.
Cullom said he planned to use the equivalent of eight million barrels of biofuel by 2020.
He also said that Algae is another alternative oil source with potential.
“The beauty with algae is that you can grow it anywhere and to grow it needs to absorb carbon dioxide, so it’s not only a very effective fuel, in theory it’s also a carbon sink. That’s a pretty good deal,” said Alan Shaffer, the Pentagon’s principal deputy director of defense research and engineering. (ANI)
