Skip to main content

State of the Union 2012: energy use and the military

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out several key points for his energy policy in the coming year. Natural gas and domestic oil production got a shout-out in the address as part of the President’s vision of supporting domestic energy resources, something that several Republican lawmakers were pleased, and perhaps surprised, to hear.

What I thought was more interesting was the President specifically calling out how big of a consumer of energy the U.S. military is, correctly identifying it as the U.S. government’s largest single consumer of energy. Just how big is big? According to the government’s own energy statistical arm, the Department of Defense uses over 80 percent of all energy consumed by the U.S. government. And by Department of Defense, we really mean fuel for jets.

I pulled the relevant graphs from the EIA's Annual Energy Review below.


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


Figure 1.11 shows historical consumption by the U.S. government as a whole compared with Defense. For 2009, Defense used a whopping 880 trillion BTUs 1.

A majority of the Defense’s energy consumption is petroleum, namely jet fuel (506 trillion BTUs in 2009). 2009 data are the right most columns:

By making a push for clean energy with the military, the administration accomplishes several goals. The military, by sheer scale of energy consumption, can accelerate the adoption of energy technologies or processes that might not be economical on a small scale. By essentially guaranteeing that the largest single energy consumer in the world will source a portion of its fuel from renewable or low carbon sources, technologies like large-scale solar arrays or advanced biofuels (algae anyone?) will have a ready-made market and stability to encourage investment and more research, etc. You get the idea.

Of course, by producing more of its energy "in house", or on American soil, the U.S. military can reduce the amount of foreign energy it consumes, avoiding the irony of invading a country with the very fuel under that country's soil.

1To give you an idea of what 1 BTU corresponds to, a British Thermal Unit is approximately the same amount of heat energy given off by a wooden kitchen matche. So 880 trillion BTUs is a lot of kitchen matches!

David Wogan is an engineer and policy researcher who writes about energy, technology, and policy.

David's academic and professional background includes a unique blend of technology and policy in the field of energy systems. Most recently, David worked at Austin Energy, a Texas municipal utility, implementing a Department of Energy stimulus grant related to energy efficiency. Previously, David was a member of the Energy & Climate Change team at the White House Council on Environmental Quality for the Obama Administration.

David holds two Master's degrees from The University of Texas at Austin in Mechanical Engineering and Public Affairs. While at UT, David was a researcher in the Webber Energy Group, where his research focused on advanced biofuel production to offset petroleum use in the transportation sector. David holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, where he researched nuclear non-proliferation measurement technology.

David is a 2013 Aspen Institute Journalism Scholar, joining a select group of journalists from Slate, ABC News, and The New York Times.

David lives in Austin, Texas. Follow along on Twitter or email him at david.wogan@me.com.

More by David Wogan