Israeli Air Force Powered by Solar Energy
The Air Force of Israel is exploring the idea of having their air bases powered by solar energy. They join a lengthening list of military and governmental organizations around the world that are looking to the future with the aim of energy security.
Solar Array
There is no doubt that energy in the future is going to be a high demand product and there is a push to enable operation to continue without being held hostage by the lack of overseas fuel supplies.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) are in tender for photovoltaic solar installations to be installed in their bases that would produce up to 50 kilowatts of electricity. This would be enough to completely supply the needs of some of the bases with the excess energy fed back in to the national grid. A second round of installations for large bases would produce up to 5 megawatts of energy.
Some nations are realizing that a dependence of fossil fuel is going to become more problematic as the years go on. Using solar energy, either in photovoltaic solar cells or solar thermal, is an ideal option for many nations especially those that have a heavy reliance on imported energy fuel.
Recently the US military have taken this a step further with experiments in alternate fuels for powering their aircraft and ships. These are not a total answer but can help reduce consumption.
If the military is embracing solar energy then it is probably something we should all think about. They do no always make the right choices or have the right reasons but quite possibly they are in the right direction with energy security. We can all have part of this by reducing our reliance on outside sources and thinking about alternate supplies. Solar Energy is and idea candidate for nearly all parts of the world to help reduce our dependence.
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