The Acting Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Defense Christine Fox signed Directive 4180.01 – “DOD Energy Policy,” the department’s first overarching defense energy policy in over 20 years.
The directive requires the DOD to:
-Improve energy performance of its weapons, installations, and military forces;
-Diversify and expand energy supplies and sources, including renewable energy sources and alternative fuels;
-Adapt core business processes – including requirements, acquisition, planning, programming, budgeting, and execution – to improve the DOD’s use and management of energy;
-Analyze and mitigate risks related to its energy use; and
-Promote innovation for its equipment as well as education and training for its personnel, valuing energy as a mission-essential resource.
The DOD is the United States’ largest single user of energy, spending an estimated $19 billion on fuel and electricity in 2013. Recently, the US Army said it was developing a solar array at Fort Huachuca, Ariz, that will be the largest solar array in the Department of Defense on a military installation.
