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Renewable energy is a key to national security

Energy independence is a key to national security.  Retired US Air Force General Donald Hoffman, a member of the military advisory board says since World War 1, fuel has replaced fodder as our means of mobility from military actions.  He adds, “Both on the battlefield and getting to the battlefield and training and getting ready to go to the battlefield all involve enormous amounts of energy.”

Currently the country is dependent on energy from other countries, some of which aren’t friendly, and that is a concern.  But, Hoffman says, America is on target to change that.  “We’re approaching point now with extraction of non-traditional means of getting energy that we’re approaching an energy independence state – perhaps,” he says.  “Energy independence, energy divergence and diversity, and assured energy resources – not just here in the US, but around the globe – are very, very important to our national security.”

Last week the General was touring renewable energy projects throughout in Indiana as part of the 25x’25 Alliance’s Rural Energy Forum and Tour.

Hoffman tells Brownfield the state’s agriculture industry is a benefit to renewable energy.  “They have found ways to take waste streams from the agricultural processes and to take the real estate that’s involved in agriculture and convert that into a win-win situation to produce alternative energy,” he says.

The goal of the 25x’25 Alliance is to secure 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply from renewable sources.