US Navy: biofuels are economically viable

The US Navy expects to get bids for biofuels for ships and aircraft that are the same price as conventional fuels.

'We've got a very, very good set of analysis that shows us that it's going to be coming in under $3.50 (€2.59) a gallon,' says Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment.

The Navy intends to buy at least 37 million gallons of drop-in biofuels that can be blended with F-76 marine diesel and JP-5 jet fuel.

In the past, the Navy has paid up to $30 per gallon for biofuels for use in tests of ships and planes.

'That was money well spent that proved at the operational level that we could in fact operate our helicopters, our jets, our ships on bio-blends of up to 50%,' adds McGinn.

'In the national security business, we get paid for looking years down the road,' he stresses. 'And we see an environment globally where there's going to be increasing competition, increased cost for pulling petroleum out of the ground.'