Military to be powered by giant solar farm

[hoon]

The US Military is to be powered by the worlds largest solar farm based in Nevada.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...4275333&EDATE=

That's fine and dandy that the military will be benefitting from green energy.. but how about consumers? Is this why the pentagon's budget is roughly $400,000,000,000.00? Because they get to spend spend spend spend on any damn project they like.. what does this have to do with protecting the country from tur'ists?

[tracy]

Originally Posted by evil_eye

That's fine and dandy that the military will be benefitting from green energy.. but how about consumers? Is this why the pentagon's budget is roughly $400,000,000,000.00? Because they get to spend spend spend spend on any damn project they like.. what does this have to do with protecting the country from tur'ists?

Any system that simplifies or minimizes the logistical load on any military installation or deployment is good for the military. For them, the issue isn't so much the absolute cost, but the availability of electric power when they might need it. Might not have been trivial in an age where field telephones could be energized by hand cranks...but considering the amount of information technology that goes to war with a post-modern army, it's not a bad thing for the guys in uniform to be investigating. If photovoltaics mean that installations in the field will not need as many gallons of diesel fuel to run generators, that diesel can be put to better use ferrying other needed supplies, or evacuating casualties.

Like it or not, the military is where new tech often gets deployed first -at a cost premium.

The advantage is that it gets the tech out there and in use, which works out many of the kinks (like cost/benefit) that allow it to then become a viable mainstream alternative. The alternative is tax incentives/breaks to get the tech mainstreamed. Either way the taxpayer pays and (hopefully) we all benefit.