It takes a lot of fossil fuels to fight a war for oil, so it’s no wonder the Defense Department is working on innovative ways to curb its carbon bootprint. From the AP:

The water bottles, plastic foam plates and other trash discarded by American troops in Iraq’s mess halls may soon be serving double-duty — as an unlikely power source to illuminate barracks and power up laptops.

The Army is preparing to deploy to Iraq two 4-ton biomass refineries designed to turn piles of trash into electricity. Each can run for 20 hours on a ton of trash, producing enough power to light a small village.

The novel machines were built by defense contractors and Purdue University scientists as part of the Army’s push to reduce troops’ diesel fuel use in Iraq, where convoys are frequently targeted by insurgents.

If these ”tactical biorefineries” stand up to the rigors of a six-month test in a combat zone, “a fleet of them could be built and sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or other combat zones,” according to Dan Nolan, a Defense Department employee whose mission is to help reduce the military’s use of fossil fuels. But, as the AP notes, even if the refineries are a success, they won’t do much to ease the military’s extraordinary energy needs:

But even if they do work, the refineries will only save the military a drop in its fuel bucket. Each of the refineries should save about 115 gallons of diesel fuel a day, Nolan said. The U.S. military brings 1.29 million gallons of fuel to Iraq each day.

We bring 1.29 million gallons of fuel to Iraq each day? Pardon me for invoking a slightly antiquated expression, but isn’t that a bit like carrying coals to Newcastle?

Learn more about how biomass energy works from the Union of Concerned Scientists.