Eco-Friendly Killing Machines: 3 Ways The Army is Going Green
Sun, Apr 6, 2008
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In keeping with the rather violent themes of the week, I thought that today, I’d explore the ways in which our respective governments are attempting to kill people in an eco-friendly manner:
Image from dunechaser on Flickr
First up, the U.S. Army, who examined their fleet of 11-miles-per-gallon humvees and jet-fueled tanks, and thought, “this is gonna be expensive when gas hits four bucks a gallon.” In seeking to avoid that little issue, and also to lengthen supply lines, freeing up all those logistics soldiers for the fun and games of light infantry, they’ve designed all of their tracked vehicles in the coming generation around a hybrid chassis: the Future Combat System.
Saves trees! Kind of. Image from Autobloggreen
Next up, the British Army, proud stewards of the planet, are devising plans even as we speak to turn explosives into manure. The idea, of course, is to reduce the environmental impact of former battlefields, instead of pumping them full of lead and aluminum and depleted uranium. Also, a decomposing munition is less likely to, say, survive 50 years and then blow up a civilian that didn’t know the war was there. So that’s positive. Needless to say, dovish legislators are less than thrilled, calling BAE (the primary contractor) out for greenwashing the industry of death.
Image from worldwidewandering on Flickr
Finally, there’s this beast, which, yes, is a Chevy Silverado with camouflage paint and a green topper on it. I see trucks just like this every day when I pass the local Wal-Mart, except for one very important difference: it’s a hybrid.
Image courtesy of the Car Connection
Yes, that’s right, in addition to examining alternative powertrains for the venerable humvee, the U.S. Army realized that it might not need a $100,000 vehicle for a daily driver, so it called up Detroit: makers of fine, reliable, automobiles, and asked them to produce hybrid truck concepts for them in a very short time frame. Ford and Chrysler pretty much did what GM did– provide a spray-painted pickup with armor. However, the Chevy won out, and is projected to provide a 20% increase in fuel economy.
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December 14th, 2008 at 5:39 am
There was also a substantial Army project involving hydraulic hybrids – diesel-engined 5-ton and 10-ton trucks incorporating a system that would store energy in braking as hydraulic pressure, then use that pressure to overcome inertia when accelerating (or when climbing a hill). This was similar to the system Eaton makes that will be on all UPS delivery vehicles built in the next few years. Fuel economy savings were estimated at around 20-40% if I remember correctly. I don’t know if that project is still active.
The Army is also looking at fuel cell vehicles – the electric power they produce would be handy in the field. But that’s a lot farther out….