Battling Fuel Waste in the Military

The document examines systemic fuel waste within the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), highlighting how a lack of activity-based costing leads to the procurement of inefficient weapons platforms. It details how the actual cost of fuel is often understated because the logistics of delivery—such as midair refueling for B-52s or helicopter transport for tanks—are treated as free. The author presents evidence from a Defense Science Board Task Force and a specific study of the USS Princeton to demonstrate that retrofitting existing equipment and redesigning platforms for efficiency could save billions of dollars annually and enhance operational agility.

• The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is likely the world's largest buyer of oil and the largest energy user in the United States, accounting for one percent of all U.S. energy use.
• DOD fuel costs are severely understated because the cost of delivering fuel to platforms is assumed to be zero during the design and procurement process, despite logistics consuming roughly one-third of the DOD budget.
• Midair refueling creates extreme cost disparities; for the Air Force in FY1999, 84 percent of fuel-delivery costs were spent on only 6 percent of the fuel gallons delivered in midair.
• Army M1A2 tanks are highly inefficient, with gas turbines idling at one percent efficiency for 60-80 percent of the time to power a 5-kilowatt "hotel load" for electronics and air conditioning.
• Fuel inefficiency hinders military operations by requiring massive logistics chains; an armored division may use 20 to 40 times more daily tons of fuel than munitions, and the Army spends approximately $3.2 billion annually just to maintain personnel to move fuel.
• A study of the USS Princeton, an Aegis cruiser, suggests that retrofitting motors, pumps, fans, chillers, and lights could save 20-50 percent of the ship's electricity, potentially cutting total fuel use by 10-25 percent.
• Comprehensive military fuel efficiency improvements could save over ten billion dollars per year by reducing direct fuel costs and the associated costs of fuel delivery.

APA

Lovins, A. (2001). Battling Fuel Waste in the Military. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_S01-12_BattlingFuelWaste.pdf

Chicago

Lovins, Amory. Battling Fuel Waste in the Military. RMI, 2001. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_S01-12_BattlingFuelWaste.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lovins |first1=Amory |title=Battling Fuel Waste in the Military |publisher=RMI |date=2001 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_S01-12_BattlingFuelWaste.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lovins2001battling, author = {Lovins, Amory}, title = {{Battling Fuel Waste in the Military}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2001}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_S01-12_BattlingFuelWaste.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }