-Janeane Garofalo-
Posted on 01/22/2015 1:18:48 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
This is the first in a three-part series titled “Your Brain on Energy” for our new Energy and Environment coverage.
In the arid lands of the Mojave Desert, Marine regimental commander Jim Caley traveled alongside a 24-mile stretch of road and saw trucks, tanks and armored tracked vehicles all idling in the heat — and wasting enormous amounts of expensive fuel.
Caley had already led forces in Iraq, and at the time was charged with seven battalions comprising 7,000 Marines. But this was a new and different challenge. Overseeing a major spring 2013 training exercise at the Marine Corps’ Twentynine Palms base in southern California, he was struck by how little he knew about how America’s war-fighting machine used energy.
“No targets prosecuted, no miles to the gallon, no combat benefit being delivered,” Caley, a Marine colonel, says of the scene. “At the time, I had no system to understand what was going on, and what was occurring, and how much further I could go on the same fuel.”
The Department of Defense is the single biggest user of energy in the U.S. — its energy bill in 2013 was $18.9 billion — and Caley now plays a central role in trying to ensure that just one of its branches, the Marine Corps, uses that power in the optimal way. The implications for the military are vast. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
All that’s old is new again. The article cites groundbreaking discoveries such as turning your thermostat back...didn’t Jimmuh come up with that?
I was in the military 20 years ago, and we plastered our light switches with stickers that implored us to flip the switch when we left the room. Good to know its still a ‘new’ idea.
Look, if we don't all sacrifice how will Al Gore, Michael Moore, George Soros and other liberal elites have energy for their many mansions? Not to mention private jets...
What? Did he leave his brain at home that day?
I’m quite satisfied that the Marine commander had brains.
As for the WaPo....well, ummmmmm, at least they can spell “energy”.
Gore’s Belle Meade mansion uses more energy in one month than most people use in two years.
I’ll be damned if I’ll sit in my own house and shiver.
“If he succeeds, the Marines would stand at the forefront of an energy revolution that may someday rival wind or solar in importance: one focused not on changing our technologies or devices, but on changing us.”
Rival wind and solar? You mean as boondoggles?
What about saving all kinds of resources—energy, money and the rest of it—by changing the behavior of government bureaucrats? (Such as having them apply for jobs in the free market ast their departments are eliminated.)
If cutting down on waste is the goal, we might as well get serious about it.
If you took all the govt mandated safety and emission crap off of cars cars would weigh about 25% less saving a whole lot of energy.
Plus flying to Davos in our private jet can get a bit pricey. We all need to cut back so the better class won’t have to!
I’m thinking the COL’s mind would have been changed had any number of vehicles failed to re-start to begin the exercise at the scheduled time and he’d have been dead in the middle of some LTC battalion commander who would have been dead in the middle of some CPT company commander who would have been dead in the middle of some 2LT platoon commander. SSDD...just another eagle looking for a star and a flag...
-Janeane Garofalo-
I agree. A bunch of nonsense. 1 percent? Why not recommend that people wash half as much, then you could cut down the energy usage of washing machines by 50 percent. Heck, don't wash at all and you'll save more energy. As you say, cut back the liberal elites like Al Gore, for the public good and save a bundle.
Same here - newly retired and planned well enough to be able to afford an extra $30 or so a month to be comfortable in our old age...The lowest we set it is 70 if we will both be gone for extended periods. The rest of the time, it's 72 and bumped to 74/75 when we are in.
How much did it cost to make those stickers and get them out to all of the bases?
“How much did it cost to make those stickers and get them out to all of the bases?”
Odds are, too much. Every form in the military has a number, and this was no exception - had some numbers printed near the bottom. Probably, to this day, you could order one from some government printing office.
BTW, the stickers filled the entire switch plate - with a hole in the middle for the switch.
I’m always reminded of them when I see a similarly foolish sticker in the civilian world. Some agency has put out ‘meth watch’ stickers. Farmers put them on ammonia tanks...which somehow guards their ammonia against theft by meth cooks.
LOL - yep - that's how the Davos crowd feels.
Think of it - - if the 'little people' (you and me and flyover) cut back water in our low flush toilets - 'our betters' could have larger swimming pools.
That's important...
And maybe our betters could finally have separate swimming pools for their butlers, maids, and bodyguards....
Did you know Michael Moore has seven mansions? And nine bodyguards... bodyguards who don't have their own swimming pools?
Is that sad or what?
And don't get me stated on poor old Al Gore and his mansions and staff... and private jets...or the bigs at the New York Times. It's all sooooooo sad. )
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