The Air Force Research Laboratory is spending $6.8 million on a facility that will produce electricity for the Hawaii Air National Guard unit that flies F-22s, the nation's most advanced fighter jet. But here’s the kicker: the unit will get experimental technology that uses trash to generate power and relies on its own small electrical grid.
The Hawaii waste-to-energy facility would take plastics, green waste and other trash from the joint Air Force and Navy base that includes Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field. Currently, smaller electrical grids, or microgrids, are used commercially and in some towns, but it’s quite unusual to see one in use for a military application.
But Hawaii’s case is also unique in that the facility would also reduce the use of fossil fuel in a state that generates most of its electricity from oil imported on container ships, something that gives Hawaii some of the highest energy costs in the nation.
According to the AP, the facility could process as much as 10 tons of trash each day. We had a chance to speak with a few folks who came out in support of the proposal. Commenting on the new facility, Oscar G. had this to say.
I’m Anna Wells, and this is IEN Now.
