Army taps University of Wisconsin to lead research into hybrid vehicles, aircraft

The U.S. Army has selected the University of Wisconsin for a multimillion-dollar grant to develop hybrid-electric engine technology for the service branch as part of the Pentagon’s efforts to cut down on carbon emissions.

The Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory last week awarded researchers at the university an $11.5 million grant for research set to begin this fall on technology that will investigate whether hybrid-electric engines could be integrated into existing Army systems.

A study from a researcher at Brown University last year found that the U.S. military generates a larger carbon footprint than some industrialized countries, including Norway. The analysis said the Pentagon does not “publicly and regularly report its fuel consumption or greenhouse gas emissions.”

In 2014, the Pentagon said the effects from man-made climate change pose a national security threat.

“Among the future trends that will impact our national security is climate change,” said then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska. “Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict. They will likely lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe.”