Ways the Military is Developing Alternative Energy
Militaries all over the world know that they must change their thinking about how to sustain themselves in the foreign field in this post-Cold War world of the 21st century. One of the things they desire to do is for their forces to be able to be more energy-independent while they are deployed in foreign countries.
At the present time the US military has a working relationship with their allies and local countries sympathetic to them to help their forces get energy they need and clean water when deployed in that foreign military endeavor. This however is not always very reliable, as they may find themselves in a situation where the resources needed to fully sustain the troops and their needs are not able to be provided.
As a result the US military is very interested in developing alternative energies that can be researched and developed to make them energy independent in the field. Or at least allow it to be a great deal more so, in the field.
One of the things that interest the military a lot is to be able to develop a small nuclear reactor that is portable for producing electricity. The military is impressed with how energy efficient they are and how clean-burning nuclear reactors are. They are researching how to make them small and portable for the highly mobile, small-scaled military operations that they are typically involved in today.
One of the major things that the US military thinks these small nuclear reactors would be useful for is the removal of hydrogen from seawater (for fuel cell). It thinks that converting seawater to hydrogen fuel in this way would also have less negative impact on the environment than their present practices.
Using ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), seawater can also be endlessly converted into desalinated drinkable water and energy. Seawater can be endlessly used in this way for capturing hydrogen, which in turn powers advanced fuel cells. Seawater is, in fact, one of the military’s highest interests when it comes to the matter of alternative energy supply. Drinkable water and hydrogen for power are two of the things that a near-future deployed military force will need most of all.
This technology works because in the cores of nuclear reactors encounter temperatures greater than 1000 degrees Celsius. When this level of temperature is reached, we have on our hands the most efficient means of breaking down water into its component parts, which are. The seawater would have to go through a desalination process to extract the minerals and salts before its components (hydrogen and oxygen) could be extracted. The minerals and salts could then be utilized for things such as vitamins or in salt shakers, or simply sent back to the ocean (recycling).
Using small portable nuclear reactors to extract hydrogen from the sea is clearly high on the militaries research and development priorities. This hydrogen will be used in fuel cells used to power next generation airplanes, tanks, ground vehicles, and many other things.
These technologies will then be developed for use by the general population. You may disagree on the reasons for developing new technologies but none of us can argue with the results. Just think of what we wouldn’t have today if the space programs R & D didn’t develop many of the technologies we use in our everyday lives today.
0 comments
Leave a comment
Read more
« Bamboo Flooring; a Green Flooring Alternative
The Greenhouse Effect on our World »