瓜神app

In an auditorium adorned with West Point鈥檚 motto 鈥� "Duty, Honor, Country" 鈥� seniors at the military academy recently presented their capstone projects. One group鈥檚 presentation focused on the possibility of transitioning the Army's tactical vehicles to a fully electric fleet, and modeling what the charging infrastructure would look like on the bases.

Gregory Langone, an engineering major, is one of the cadets who worked on the project. After his presentation, he said the work he鈥檚 done as a student will have a direct impact on the work he鈥檒l do when he becomes an officer.

鈥淲e're going to be seeing this technology roll out, and we're going to be some of the first people to actually see it in action and use it,鈥� Langone said.

That's because professors and fellow cadets weren鈥檛 the only people who saw the presentation by Langone and his classmates. Also present was Paul Farnan, the Army鈥檚 Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy and Environment, which oversees energy use on Army installations. Farnan said the cadets鈥� work on charging infrastructure directly affects him as he works to get bases ready for more electric vehicles.

鈥淲hat they're developing here, I want to turn around tomorrow and actually get it onto the installations so that we can make it a more effective Army,鈥� Farnan said.

His office has teamed up with West Point to form the Sustainable Infrastructure Resilience and Climate Consortium. It's working to prepare the next generation of leaders for the climate change challenges they face now and into the future, and it's trying to help the Defense Department solve climate challenges that could affect national security.

Farnan said the focus is on solutions.

鈥淟et's take the real world, big Army problems that our soldiers are facing every day in their training and on the battlefield, and let's use this academic institution to apply the theory behind it,鈥� Farnan said. 鈥淎nd then as they figure it out in theory, let's then take it and put it into the hands of soldiers and let's test it out in the real world.鈥�

Those challenges include fuel efficiency and how to store backup power. Farnan said sustainability and resilience on Army bases haven鈥檛 received enough attention in the past, but the consortium is changing that.

鈥淲e've been working with these students throughout the course of the academic year,鈥� Farnan said. 鈥淭he ingenuity, the knowledge, the different perspective that they bring is incredible.鈥�

Professors at West Point say the consortium鈥檚 work transcends political debates over climate change 鈥� and the partisan wrangling over what the military鈥檚 priorities should be.

鈥淪ometimes these topics get watered down with politics and that's unfortunate,鈥� said Colonel Corey James, who runs the department of chemistry and life science. 鈥淪ome would say, 鈥榃ell, you're trying to do things that would take away the Army鈥檚 and the military's ability to fight and win the nation's wars.鈥欌��

But James said the opposite is true. He said preparing for climate change is in line with the academy鈥檚 mission to educate and train cadets on how to win wars.

鈥淏eing more efficient will obviously help us with carbon emissions and those sorts of things,鈥� James said. 鈥淏ut it will likely make us more survivable and resilient on the battlefield as well.鈥�

Electrifying the Army鈥檚 tactical vehicles comes with significant challenges, but also has the potential for game-changing opportunities.

鈥淥ur vehicles are very, very loud, and they鈥檙e very hot, which means that an enemy can find them,鈥� said F. Todd Davidson at West Point鈥檚 Center for Innovation and Engineering. 鈥淪o when we speak about electrification of the battlefield鈥� it also potentially comes with significant opportunity to make our vehicles silent and to make them nearly invisible.鈥�

Davidson said cadets are studying not only how to electrify and charge military vehicles. They鈥檙e also researching how water 鈥� either too much or too little 鈥� will affect geopolitics, how extreme weather is impacting bases, and how artificial intelligence can play a role in energy efficiency.

Langone, the West Point senior, said he鈥檚 proud to know his project on electric vehicles could have a real-world use for the Army.

鈥淸We鈥檙e] a group of five seniors in college, but we're working for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army and the findings that we come up with through this project can drastically affect how the Army is acquiring electric vehicles, both domestically in the United States, and in our installations,鈥� Langone said.

He said when he becomes an officer, he plans to continue studying the feasibility of the charging infrastructure models he developed as a student. He said that if the technology can work on Army bases, civilians could benefit off base as well.

This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.

Copyright 2023 North Carolina Public Radio 鈥� 瓜神app