The Air Force on Wednesday issued a new energy plan that lays out the service’s long-range—to 2035—institutionalized energy goals and how it aims to reduce energy demand, increase supply through alternative and renewable energy sources, and change the service’s culture so that energy is a consideration in everything that airmen do. “Military forces will always be dependent on energy, but we must dramatically reduce the risk to national security associated with our current energy posture,” said Debra Walker, USAF’s lead for installations, logistics, and environment, in the service’s release. The plan, about two years in the making, builds on recent USAF policy guidance. The Air Force is the largest energy consumer in the federal government and is also at the forefront of national alternative and renewable energy activities. (Air Force Energy Plan 2010; caution, large document.)
U.S. munitions have been expended at a high rate during Operation Epic Fury against Iran, prompting concerns that the Pentagon is eating into weapons stockpiles it needs to deter threats around the world. Yet the newly released $1.5 trillion defense budget request was developed before the war against Iran and…