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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Navy is launching a carrier strike group to be powered partly by biofuel [phys.org], calling it a milestone toward easing the military's reliance on foreign oil.

The maritime branch is touting the warships as the centerpiece of its "Great Green Fleet." Most of the group's ships will be run for now on a mix made up of 90 percent petroleum and only 10 percent biofuels, though that could change in the future. The Navy originally aimed for the ratio to be 50/50.

Meanwhile, critics, including environmentalists, say biofuel production is too costly and on a large scale may do more harm than good.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were scheduled on Wednesday to inspect the ships before they set sail off San Diego. They are headed up by the nuclear-powered USS John C. Stennis supercarrier.

Mabus said going green is not just about reducing the Navy's carbon footprint.

"In 2010, we were losing too many Marines in convoys carrying fossil fuels to outposts in Afghanistan, and the prohibitive cost of oil was requiring us to stop training at home in order to keep steaming abroad, a dangerous and unsustainable scenario," he said in a statement.

The Navy is aiming to draw half its power from alternative energy sources by 2020 so ships can refuel less, stay out at sea longer and no longer be at the mercy of fluctuating oil prices and oil-producing nations, which may not all have U.S. interests in mind, Mabus said. The federal government has invested more than $500 million into drop-in biofuels, which can be used without reconfiguring engines.

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