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Tag Archives: Iraq
Why U.S. Special Forces Like Solar Power
CleanTechnica has posted an interesting article detailing five key reasons why U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan appreciate and use solar power technology. The top-line reasons identified are:
1. Solar Power Saves Money
2. Solar Power Saves Planes and Trucks
3. Solar Power Saves Wear and Tear
4. Solar Power is Just Plain Better
5. Solar Power Builds Strong Communities
We would add “solar power saves lives” to that list, given the human cost of protecting fuel convoys in theater. As Department of Defense officials revealed after a review in 2011, “over 3,000 American soldiers or contractors were killed in fuel supply convoys between 2003 and 2007 in Iraq and Afghanistan.” This issue will be explored further in a forthcoming documentary “the Burden,” produced by Truman National Security fellow Roger Sorkin. However, the author does allude to this problem under reason #2:
By cutting down on fuel deliveries, the hybrid solar units free up aircraft and trucks for other missions. According to Kidd, the project has resulted in the equivalent of pulling 185 trucks out of fuel convoys.In turn, that reduces the risk for Soldiers assigned to secure air drops and fuel convoys.
UPDATE: a colleague of ours adds another good reason why U.S. Special Forces appreciate solar power: It’s quiet, and has much less of a thermal signature, which is important to low profile operations.
Climate Change in Iraq: Watch This Space
Just spotted this great two-page UN fact sheet on climate change in Iraq. Though it’s not often discussed in the media, Iraq is “one of the Arab region’s most vulnerable countries to climate change.” On top of an increasingly variable climate, the country is experiencing severe water shortages and desertification from damaging farming practices and water resource mismanagement (not to mention continued political and economic instability). As the country reconstructs itself after a decade of conflict, building resilience to rapid changes in the climate will be of critical importance, and may also offer opportunities for peace-building. Watch this space.
Sharing Water After the Arab Spring
When the dust settles in the Arab world, there will be two major questions asked: who actually holds power now, and what are we going to do about water?
UPI recently reported on the numerous water-sharing agreements that are being negotiated and renegotiated as the nations of the Arab world simultaneously experience the institution-shaking phenomenon of the Arab Awakening, and an unusual string of punishing droughts (thanks to Andrew Holland at ASP for the heads up). (more…)
Eye on Iran: Lake Urmia, Water, Climate and Security in a Volatile Region
This blog also appeared on the humanitarian news site, AlertNet
The strategic position of Iran, straddling the energy-thruway that is the Strait of Hormuz, bordering, among other nations, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and sitting a mere 1,000 miles northeast of an anxious Israel, is unquestionably important. However, while the recent focus has been on whether or not Iran has the capability and the will to turn its domestic nuclear energy program into a nuclear weapons program, another human and economic disaster looms relatively unnoticed: the drying up of Lake Urmia in the country’s northwest – the largest lake in the Middle East. Given the current volatile political landscape surrounding Iran, this is worth a closer look. (more…)