4 ms·
I read elsewhere on hacker news that the us military runs through 20 million barrels of fuel per day . I can imagine there is a great desire to be less dependen
by spockz 5y ago
I read elsewhere on hacker news that the us military runs through 20 million barrels of fuel per day . I can imagine there is a great desire to be less dependent on suppliers both in terms of quantity and logistics. Imagine a nuclear powered aircraft carrier being able to generate fuel for its planes and support ships.
- nradov 5y agoYes the US Navy has been researching synthesizing aviation fuel onboard nuclear powered carriers since at least 2013. The goal is to reduce fleet dependence on vulnerable tankers. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/us-navy-aircraft-carriers-could-soon-use-innovative-fuel-made-from-seawater-161519.html https://www.autoevolution.com/news/us-navy-aircraft-carriers... https://www.autoevolution.com/news/us-navy-aircraft-carriers-could-soon-use-innovative-fuel-made-from-seawater-161519.html https://www.autoevolution.com/news/us-navy-aircraft-carriers...
- pm90 5y agoAmazing. At what point do these carriers become totally self sufficient.
- tastyfreeze 5y agoWhen they can make food from waste.
- Lev1a 5y ago- water filtration/desalination - Maybe in the future they could use fusion reactors for power, synthesizing Deuterium and/or Tritium to enhance their endurance (maybe indefinitely?) - make the carrier (with minimal crew) and the planes into drones (AFAIK already in research/testing) since even if the material could be at sea forever the people could not endure and also many probably wouldn't sign up for such a job
- yencabulator 5y ago> - water filtration/desalination My understanding is the submarines have been doing that for a very, very long time. No challenge there. Here's a random article from 2008 saying "decades": https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/opinion/nuclear-desalination-isn-t-a-wild-idea-subs-have-been-doing-it-for-decades/article_764caf0d-b2e4-580b-a0d8-315627124103.html https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/opinion/nuclear-desalinati...
- diggernet 5y agoAll subs and surface ships, literally since the very first nuclear powered vessel. Because all they did was switch to a different heat source for the desalination that ships had been doing for decades before that.
- njarboe 5y agoSince world production of oil is currently about 75 millions of barrels per day (mbpd)[1], this 20 mbpd figure is certainly wrong. Probably someone wanted to make the figure seem higher than it was and used gallons instead of the standard barrels unit. Even then, 1/2 million barrels of fuel per day would seem high to me when the US is not in an active shooting war. 20 million barrels of oil would be worth about $1.6 billion dollars. So the military would be spending about $580 billion a year on fuel. Or 3/4th its budget. [1] https://ycharts.com/indicator/world_crude_oil_production https://ycharts.com/indicator/world_crude_oil_production
- vlovich123 5y agoYou’re missing the point. The really large number feels right.
- s1artibartfast 5y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_usage_of_the_United_States_military https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_usage_of_the_United_S...
- bobthepanda 5y ago12M gallons a day, which is approx 285,000 barrels a day. Far below the 20 million barrels figure.