University, Entrepreneurs Advance Biofuels for U.S. Military

(U.S. Department of Defense)

Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York joined today with two entrepreneurs to advance the use of biofuels by the U.S. armed forces as an alternative energy source.  The entrepreneurs, John Fox and Wayne Arden, have proposed producing biodiesel in Afghanistan as a way of reducing risks to American troops and building a new, sustainable industry in the country. The partnership with Syracuse will help pilot test and document the proposal before taking it to the war zone.

In response to the high costs, logistical barriers, and increasing danger to U.S. troops of transporting petroleum diesel fuel for vehicles and electrical generators, Arden and Fox propose building a biodiesel plant in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, and the site of a current NATO offensive against the Afghan Taliban. In June, Arden and Fox published a white paper describing the project.

Building a biodiesel plant, say Arden and Fox will reduce the number fuel imports and convoys to landlocked Afghanistan, thereby reducing casualties and freeing up forces for more critical assignments. Another benefit is financial. The Department of Defense (DoD) estimates the fully burdened cost of fuel — adding in the high delivery, storage, and protection costs — at $400 a gallon. The authors estimate the cost to DoD of locally produced biodiesel, fully-burdened, would  be less than a one-tenth of that amount. And a profitable biofuels industry would help encourage economic development in one of the poorest countries on the planet, as well as offer an alternative to farmers of planting opium poppies.

Syracuse University will help Arden and Fox evaluate pilot tests of of the proposed biofuels plant at one or more U.S. military bases outside of the war zone. “The purpose of this partnership,” says Gina Lee-Glauser, vice president for research at Syracuse University, “is to pilot the recommendations and document the economical viability of the proposal.” The university says it can also provide expertise to the project in fields such as engineering and molecular biology.

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