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| Fig. 1: US Department of Defense Use of Energy. [3] (Courtesy of the DOD) |
In discussions regarding the environmental impact of various sectors on the environment, often the US Department of Defense undergoes scrutiny as it is considered (amongst popular opinion at least) as a major consumer of oil. The United States as a whole, consumes around 25% of the world's oil, and the Department of Justice is the single biggest purchaser of energy, constituting about 80% of the US government's use of energy. [1]
Within the military, the branches use energy for different purposes, including transport, electricity, and training. In 2011, it was reported that the Air Force consumed the most petroleum (53%), while the Navy and Marine Corps consumed 28%, and the Army consumed 18%. [2] In a report from fiscal year 2020, the US Department of Defense released the following table, describing the historical use and cost of fuel for operational costs, noting that it does not take into account cost of transportation of material and of storage. [3]
Thus, we can conclude that to this day, the Department of Defense is the biggest consumer of energy in the US Federal Government and the Air Force accounts for the majority of that energy usage. In every publication coming from the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or partner organizations, one of the main goals stated is to reduce the consumption of energy, either by using alternative energy sources, or planning differently and reducing the need for aviation fuel.
In order to fully understand the impact of the use of energy by the Department of Defense, its imprtant to compare it to the overall fuel consumption by industries outside of the Department of Defense. In a report, it was shown that commercial airlines in 2019 used roughly 41 million tons of fuel (roughly 300 gallons per ton), which translates to around 12 billion gallons. [4] In comparison, the Air Force reported using around 50 million barrels (with roughly 42 gallons per barrel), which puts the estimate at around 2 billion gallons of oil used by the US Air Force. In comparison to commercial usage, this is much smaller but still non-negligible.
© Howra Alammarah. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] S.Closson, "The Military and Energy: Moving the United States Beyond Oil," Energy Policy 61, 306 (2013).
[2] C. Samaras, W. J. Nuttall, and M. Bzailian, "Energy and the Military: Convergence of Security, Economic, and Environmental Decision-Making," Energy Strategy Rev. 26,100409 (2019).
[3] "Fiscal Year 2020 Operational Energy Annual Report," U.S. Department of Defense, May 2021
[4] J. B. Sobieralski, "Energy Consumption and Emissions Dynamics of US Domestic Intercity Air Travel," Transp. Res. D Transp. Environ. 99, 102993 (2021).