DOD’s Energy Challenge as Strategic Opportunity

The author contends that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) faces critical national security risks due to its inefficient use of fuel in the battlespace and its dependence on a vulnerable commercial electricity grid. To mitigate these, the document proposes two new strategic capabilities: 'Endurance,' which leverages energy efficiency to reduce the logistics 'tail' and increase combat effectiveness, and 'Resilience,' which utilizes onsite renewable microgrids to ensure mission continuity. The author advocates for a shift in metrics, specifically the use of the 'Fully Burdened Cost of Fuel' (FBCF), to incentivize the adoption of available technologies that could potentially reduce mobility-fuel requirements by two-thirds to three-fourths.

• The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) suffers significant casualties and costs due to its reliance on fuel convoys, which are highly vulnerable to attacks. In FY07, attacks on these convoys resulted in 132 casualties for the U.S. Army in Iraq and 38 in Afghanistan.
• The 'Endurance' capability aims to increase operational range and agility by reducing fuel logistics. The author suggests that adopting identified energy efficiency technologies could reduce total DOD mobility-fuel requirements by approximately two-thirds to three-fourths over several decades.
• DOD's dependence on the commercial electricity grid is a major security risk, as the grid is 'inherently brittle' and susceptible to cyberattacks, sabotage, and natural disasters. The author proposes replacing this reliance for critical missions with onsite, renewable-powered 'islandable' microgrids.
• The document argues that DOD has historically undervalued energy efficiency by using wholesale fuel prices rather than the 'Fully Burdened Cost of Fuel' (FBCF), which includes the costs of force protection and delivery in theater.
• A significant portion of wartime fuel is wasted on inefficient infrastructure; for example, one analyzed Forward Operating Base (FOB) used approximately 95% of its generator electricity for air conditioning un-insulated tents.
• The author critiques the pursuit of coal-to-liquids synthetic fuels, stating they do not address the primary problem of delivering fuel to deployed forces and lack a viable market future.

APA

LOVINS, A. B. (2010). DOD’s Energy Challenge as Strategic Opportunity. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_JFQ57_Lovins_unabridged.pdf

Chicago

LOVINS, AMORY B. DOD’s Energy Challenge as Strategic Opportunity. RMI, 2010. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_JFQ57_Lovins_unabridged.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=LOVINS |first1=AMORY B. |title=DOD’s Energy Challenge as Strategic Opportunity |publisher=RMI |date=2010 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_JFQ57_Lovins_unabridged.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lovins2010dods, author = {LOVINS, AMORY B.}, title = {{DOD’s Energy Challenge as Strategic Opportunity}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2010}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_JFQ57_Lovins_unabridged.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }