The U.S. Defense Department needs to use less energy regardless of the form, an energy official at the Pentagon said from Washington. Sharon Burke, the Pentagon's new coordinator for energy, said energy efficiency is vital for the success of warfighters and national defense. Burke told reporters that it doesn't matter what kind of energy the Pentagon was using, efficiency was key.
"Because no matter what kind of energy we're using, the amount of energy we're using causes us problems in practice," she said. "Particularly in the kinds of fights we're fighting today where so much of our logistics train is in the battlefield.
U.S. lawmakers in a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said so-called operational energy made up 70 percent of the Defense Department's budget in 2009 at the cost of $9.3 billion.The lawmakers told the defense secretary that while it was difficult to adopt new technologies in the battlefield, U.S. warfighters needed to be more prudent in their use of energy.
"We're certainly mindful and responsive to the larger energy security situation for the whole nation but our job is the national security mission of this department," said Burke.
"Because no matter what kind of energy we're using, the amount of energy we're using causes us problems in practice," she said. "Particularly in the kinds of fights we're fighting today where so much of our logistics train is in the battlefield.
U.S. lawmakers in a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said so-called operational energy made up 70 percent of the Defense Department's budget in 2009 at the cost of $9.3 billion.The lawmakers told the defense secretary that while it was difficult to adopt new technologies in the battlefield, U.S. warfighters needed to be more prudent in their use of energy.
"We're certainly mindful and responsive to the larger energy security situation for the whole nation but our job is the national security mission of this department," said Burke.
