Americas News
U.S. Hails "New Normal" as Warship Takes Biofuel Delivery
In what it says will be "the new normal," the U.S. Navy Friday announced the warship USS Mason Thursday took its first delivery of an Italian-made biofuel from the Etna off the Italian coast.
The operation is said to be part of the navy's "Great Green Fleet" initiative, initiated in 2009, which aims to give the U.S. a strategic advantage by reducing dependence on oil prices and producers, as well as boost the fleet's sustainability.
USS Mason is said to have been bunkered alongside an Italian naval vessel, the Andrea Doria, with a mix of 5.5 percent palm oil biofuel blended into marine fuel, produced by Italy's Eni S.p.A. (Eni).
"It's a first today," said Ray Mabus, U.S. Navy Secretary, adding: "but it's the new normal. It's what you're going to see - refueling after refueling after refueling."
"A $2.26 per gallon cost for biofuel is a competitive price.
"The engines won't notice and it will be as if we were using traditional fuels."
The U.S. Navy currently has 30 percent of its fleet powered by alternative energy, including nuclear power, intending to increase this figure to 50 percent by the year 2020, said Mabus.
The strategy to use biofuels has it critics, however, who say the idea is fundamentally flawed.
Italy also aims to have 50 percent of its naval fleet running on alternative energy by 2020, said Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, of the Italian Navy, who was present at the event.
Roughly 10 percent of Italy's naval vessels are said to be currently running on alternative energy with the country's submarines expected to be added to the list sometime this year.
On Friday, Ship & Bunker reported that the University of California (UC) says the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC in San Diego has been investigating the viability of biofuels in research vessels as a way to mitigate potential future increases in the price of traditional bunkers, as well as reduce pollution.
