The Department of the Navy is switching to renewable energy on land at a rate that’s five years ahead of schedule. That’s good for the environment and for sailors and Marines, who should be safer with fewer oil convoys to defend. Before the Navy set a goal of relying on renewables for half its fuel, “we were losing a Marine killed or wounded for every 50 convoys of fuel we moved into Afghanistan,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said in May in California. Its so-called “Great Green Fleet” has featured a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and flotilla of accompanying ships steaming on a mixture of diesel and biofuel.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Introducing the 2024 TIME100 Next
- The Reinvention of J.D. Vance
- How to Survive Election Season Without Losing Your Mind
- Welcome to the Golden Age of Scams
- Did the Pandemic Break Our Brains?
- The Many Lives of Jack Antonoff
- 33 True Crime Documentaries That Shaped the Genre
- Why Gut Health Issues Are More Common in Women
Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com