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Past Event

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus

This event is postponed

The Pentagon is the largest single energy consumer in the world and spends as much as $19 billion a year on fuel. Moving fuel also costs lives ­thousands of U.S. soldiers or contractors have been killed in fuel supply convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Americans are continuing to be killed in the name of oil. These costs and instability in oil exporting regions are driving the military to seek alternatives to petroleum.

Unlike many corporate executives hung up on the short-term costs of low-carbon energy, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus is looking at the long haul. By 2020, he has committed to reducing onshore and maritime use of fossil fuels by 50 percent, and the Navy's Great Green Fleet is partly fueled with alternative energy sources, including nuclear. Can alternative energies meet the military¹s massive needs? Will they help the U.S. achieve energy independence and spur commercial markets? Join us for a conversation with Secretary Mabus on the future of fuels and national security in the age of climate disruption. Secretary Mabus recently wrote an article summarizing the U.S. Navy's energy impacts and challenges.

Notes

The speakers and audience will be videotaped for future broadcast on the Climate One TV show on KRCB TV 22 on Comcast and DirecTV.

September 18, 2013

The Commonwealth Club of California
595 Market St.
San Francisco, 94102
United States

Speakers

Speaker