US Department of Defense has an opportunity to lead the way in transitioning to carbon pollution-free electricity.
The U.S Department of Defense is America’s largest government agency and the largest employer in the world with 3 million employees on its payroll. The Department recognizes the vital importance of addressing dangerous climate threats. The FY 2023 Budget is addressing the Climate Crisis with $3.1 billion investments. Pentagon continues its work to combat current and future crises.
U.S Department of Defense would receive $3.1 billion in climate investments in an attempt to turn the military into a significantly more energy-efficient fighting force under President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2023 budget request.
The Defense Department is biggest energy consumer in all the world. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the requested funds are aimed at “bolstering our installation resiliency and adaptation to climate challenges.”
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said, “It’s not just critical to addressing the threat of climate change, but also to our national security as we work to secure US competitiveness in rapidly shifting global energy markets. The RFI we released today sends a clear signal to the market that the Department of Defense is well underway in our efforts to support President Biden’s Executive Order to achieve a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035.”
The EO calls for a “coordinated whole of government approach” to achieve 100% CFE by 2030, including a requirement to match clean electricity supply with federal agency electricity use on an hourly basis 50% of the time. Both the high utilization of CFE and the hourly matching approach represent a new approach for DoD and the federal government.
According to Joe Bryan, DOD’s chief sustainability officer and senior adviser for climate to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, leveraging the scale of DoD and federal partners like GSA should attract industry interest and help drive competitive pricing. “Clean energy markets are transforming quickly and prices are increasingly competitive,” he said.
Mike McGhee, executive director for climate resilience in DOD’s acquisition and sustainment office, said renewable power is opening new market structures along with new opportunities.
According to a report by The Renewable Energy Resource Assessment Information for the United States US is substantially rich in green eco friendly energy resources. The report summarizes the results of nearly 30 national renewable energy resource assessments performed by the U.S. national laboratories since 2012.
Included are assessments for solar, wind, biomass, marine, geothermal, and hydropower energy resource technologies. Increased attention is given to the renewable energy resources available near federally recognized Tribal Nations and low-to-moderate income households, where assessed.
The United States is a resource-rich country with abundant renewable energy resources. Every region of the country has access to multiple renewable energy resources. The available renewable resource is 100 times that of the Nation’s annual electricity need.
President Biden said “We can lead America to become the world’s clean energy superpower. We can export our clean-energy technology across the globe and create high-quality, middle-class jobs here at home. Getting to a 100% clean energy economy is not only an obligation, it’s an opportunity. We should fully adopt a clean energy future, not just for all of us today, but for our children and grandchildren, so their tomorrow is healthier, safer, and more just”.
President Biden plan will make a historic investment in our clean energy future and environmental justice, paid for by rolling back the Trump tax incentives that enrich corporations at the expense of American jobs and the environment.
Biden’s climate and environmental justice proposal will make a federal investment of $1.7 trillion over the next ten years, leveraging additional private sector and state and local investments to total to more than $5 trillion. Joe Biden believes we should instead invest in a Clean Energy Revolution that creates jobs here at home.
