Until We Get Really Good Batteries…

…this may well become one of the main ways that our military and commercial jets will be powered:

Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corp. have approved plans to build and fund Dynamic Fuels’ first renewable synthetic fuels facility in Geismar, La., clearing the way for construction to begin.

Dynamic Fuels is a 50-50 joint venture between Tyson and Syntroleum to convert low grade, inedible fats and greases into renewable transportation fuels for the military and civilian markets.

I’ve noticed two distinct mindsets among military types. The one that gets the most press is of course the Rumsfeld-Cheney “invade our way to energy security and devil take whoever stands in our way” mindset.

The other one is the one that led a number of top brass to buy Priuses instead of limos or SUVs as soon as the Priuses were available (and has led to other military personnel making solar-based Prius conversions), and the one behind the Tyson Foods synthetic fuels plant, and the one behind this waste-to-energy refinery supplying an Army base in Baghdad (the more garbage they can turn into fuel, the less truckloads of diesel coming and garbage going out, and the fewer targets for insurgents). It’s the one that’s led the Navy to put solar-power systems in Naval housing in Hawaii. It’s the one that led the Air Force to install the country’s biggest solar-power system at Nellis AFB, along with wind power, geothermal and even biomass facilities.

In the meantime, the Navy’s investing in battery reserarch. They understand Peak Oil, even if Bush doesn’t.