The Ministry of Defence has met its 18% reduction in fossil fuels consumption objective target early.

The target was to be achieved by 2020/21 and has been met through the use of behavioural analysis to reduce fuel usage.

Nia Griffith, the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, asked in a Parliamentary written question:

“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department’s 2012-2015 business plan, whether it is still his Department’s objective to reduce armed forces fossil fuel consumption by 18 per cent by 2020-21 from a 2009-10 baseline.”

Tobias Ellwood, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence, answered:

“The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has already met the 18% reduction in fossil fuels consumption objective as set out in the Department’s Business Plan 2012-15. The MOD is now continuing to look for further fuel efficiencies. Information on the target and further efficiencies is available online within Section 3 of both the current Sustainable MOD Annual Report 2017-18 and the 2016-17 Report.”

Last year, to help meet this target, Dstl was tasked with understanding how the MoD can reduce energy expenditure.

Behavioural scientists in Dstl’s Defence and Security Analysis Division, working with experts from industry, looked at a variety of interventions that could change the energy behaviours of MOD’s personnel.

According to an earlier news release, some of the successes include:

  • At Catterick Garrison, energy savings of 26 per cent were achieved. The total saving over five years is potentially £74,000, compared to £3,500 for the cost of the activity. That’s up to £21 saved for each £1 spent.
  • Another study with the Royal Navy will help to save more than £100,000 per ship per year in fuel costs.

“This work has received high praise and is being exploited not just across Defence, but internationally too. The work was presented at the fourth European Conference on Behaviour and Energy Efficiency, to a European Defence Agency Consultation Forum in Rome, and to NATO’s Energy Security Centre of Excellence in Lithuania. It will also be presented at the Behaviour, Energy and Climate Change Conference in the United States.”

The Ministry of Defence say that not only will this reduce costs, but also contribute to environmental goals.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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55 COMMENTS

  3. I laughed so hard when I read this was achieved through behavioural analysis. Ie we just don’t operate our vehicles as much due to budget cuts which resulted in us smashing this target early.

    • The surface fleet has made savings in a number of ways.
      Better hull paint reduces marine growth and drag so you use less fuel. (5-7% Saving)
      Monitoring of shaft power against speed indicates drag from marine growth so you get a hull clean.
      More efficient engine management. DGs on a T23 as opposed to racing around on GTs.
      (A T23 will do 8K miles on DGs at 6 knots)
      The transon flap on T23 provided another 5-10 % fuel saving.

      Every little bit helps!

  4. Ok by fossil fuels are they referring to fuel burnt directly by vehicles/vessels/aircraft or is it also energy bills of mod properties? Behaviour changes being turning off lights and computers in the evening?

  5. We are a Nation of 66 million ( out of a World Population of 7 Billion or so ) highly Regulated and Bossed about Humans. We Recycle every Week, Worry about our Carbon Footprint, Send untold £ billions abroad, Raise Untold further £ billions for Charity, Save the Whales, Rain Forests, Donkeys, Elephants. We have High Taxes, Fuel Costs, House Prices, Poverty of our own, Homelessness and a Crippling H and S Regime, not to mention the PC brigade. We are a Fraction of the Worlds Population and an even smaller Fraction of the Worlds Problems.
    It’s nice to know we have achieved an 18% Saving though. Hope the rest of the World Appreciates our Efforts.

    • They don’t. They are too busy polluting the atmosphere, cutting down rain forests marching on Arizona demanding to be let in, travelling across a safe continent before screaming asylum, stoning people to death, withholding women’s rights, launching chemical attacks on other nations soil, hunting whales, Sharks, Rhino and Elephants to extinction, hunting tigers for God knows what, milking what resources earth has left to give, and generally getting on with life.

      But at least here the Mod can sleep soundly at their carbon footprint while the armed forces are run into the ground and vets sleep on the streets.

        • In all seriousness it is of course a positive thing.

          But with all the virtue signalling going on in today’s PC infested world and the crap society produces it’s hard to take this all seriously.

          I can get on my high horse if needed. When will the powers that be ban the supermarkets from using plastic packaging?! What’s wrong with compostsble paper bags? Even we, a family of just two of me and the wife, and the varied animals we have, produce a mountain of the stuff to be recycled in those green bins. It’s mad.

          How much ends up on beaches in Nigeria and how much really is recycled?

          Apologies to all. This post ( rant ) is more apt on UKRJ UK Recycling Journal not UKDJ!

          • There are things you can do about that. For instance I was fed up with buying food that came in black plastic trays. (Black plastic can not be recycled as the machines can not read the packaging marks). So I wrote to Sainsburys and asked them to put the food in non-black containers. Obviously others also did the same and Sainsburys are now transitioning to non-black containers. I also buy products that are as recyclable and and as kind to the environment as possible where I can. For instance I buy eco-friendly dish washer tablets so that they do not send their plastic cases to the sea and are not full of bad chemicals. We buy eco-friendly clothes detergent and softener, eco-friendly floor cleaner. We wrap our sandwiches in wax cloth which is reusable and we try not to buy products that come with excessive packaging. I drive an EV, we have the most efficient boiler possible (although I would like a ground source water heater when we next need to replace the boiler). I have replaced all our bulbs with LEDs, installed smart thermostats which have reduced the heating bill and installed a induction hob (they are far more efficient than any other type of hob). Our electricity is 100% renewable and our gas is part biogas. We pick up litter when we go out for walks (no idea why people think it is okay to drop litter all over the place) and we always make sure we pick up all the litter outside our house that appears. All this has been done with hardly any effort or disadvantages. Basically as the MOD have found, there are a lot of things we can all do that require very little change but can have a big effect. There are other things that are going to require more effort but there is a lot of low hanging fruit out there just waiting to be picked and we can all do our bit to aid this effort. You do not have to be a tree hugger in order to make a big difference.

            Interestingly Nigeria is one country where plastic bags are totally banned…

      • And china and India build more coal fired power plants every year so that cancels all the work done by the west out and adds millions more carbon tons.

        But that’s ok, they are making there shithole nations unbareable to live in so the population wants and try’s to get to the west to live just like the other 20 shithole nations trying! and they bring their backwards culture with them! And we are supposed to love it, more sir please can we have more!! Bollocks

        • India and China are both making huge strides in renewables etc. China is the worlds largest market for EVs. It is the world leader in adding solar and wind power to its grid. It is easy to point out where they fail while ignoring where they are succeeding.

          Out of the top 9 largest solar farms on earth 2 are in China and 5 are in India. The largest is in India. India aims to have 15% of all cars on the road being electric within the next 5 years. That is far more aggressive than the UK governments plans.

          However even if they were doing nothing it would not mean we should also do nothing. If you were in a boat that had a leak you would not refuse to bail out the water just because the others refused to do so…

          • Wind power make up a significant amount of the UKs capacity. You are simply wrong. For instance renewables are on target to overtake fossil fuel generation by 2020.

            China has the largest installed wind power generation of any country on earth… It is also the worlds largest market for photovoltaics. Strange thing to do for a country that you claim says no to wind power…

            Stop being fed false information from the oil industry… Be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

          • Sorry Lee but I have to Disagree. You Totally Ignore the actual True Facts. India and China have @2.6 Billion People, We have a tiny fraction. We don’t have anywhere near the amount of Coal Fired power Stations, No Where remotely near. China has an acute pollution Problem so does India. I think you need to reed up more and stop being Guided by the Anti Oil Industry Propaganda rubbish you seem to embrace. Being part of the Solution, Is Knowing where the Problem really Is Mate. It’s not In the UK.

          • The problem is in the UK as well as everywhere else on earth. We can make a difference so we should do so. I am not fed anti-oil propaganda. It is simple science! The problem is people like you that seem to ignore the issue because you do not like change or being told what to do. The problem is people like Trump who are totally ignoring science in favour of bungs from big oil. (He has installed climate change deniers in many environmental positions and forced government departments to remove evidence of climate change from their websites etc. Some republicans even claim that the sea levels are rising because rocks are falling in to the sea!)

            The problem is the slow pace at which the world is waking up to this issue and the problem is the companies that have ignored the issue in favour of profits of the the years. We have been warned about this issue for decades and we have ignored it. We now realise we need to do something urgently but there is still resistance… If this was your child suffering in front of you then you would demand action but because it is somewhat hidden away people just turn a blind eye.

            Wake up, do your research and learn some science…

    • We should appreciate our own efforts. We need to all be better to our environment. Unfortunately we have governments that would rather listen to oil companies etc than scientists, although thankfully we are at least a lot better than the US at this…

      Each of our efforts make a difference. It would be nice if everyone was pulling in the same direction but that is the way of the world. At least I can say to my children that I tried…

      This is also a good news story in terms of the MOD. they are a heavy user of energy and most of the time they are not fighting, they are just going about day to day training etc. If they can save large amounts of energy then it is a saving for them and also helps the rest of the UK. More savings on energy waste means more money to spend on other things.

      • I’m sorry again Lee but seriously mate, you are Delusional. We the UK are not to blame for the entire Worlds problems. I think you need to research more before coming to such silly conclusions. There are 7.000.000.000 People on this Planet or there abouts, and only @ 66.000.000 On this small group of Islands. We are totally committed to and Forced to, obey all the Rules when it comes to Pollution, Waste Management and the Environment, The other 6.9934.000.000 are not so. Take a long look at those Numbers.

        • Lee 1, I would like you to go and have a look at Wikipedia. If you search “List of New Coal Fired Power Stations being built “, You’ll see why I reply the way I do. Let me know your Thoughts.

          • My thoughts are that many of the coal power plants coming online in china are ones that were already under construction. It is a fact that they buy more EVs, Build more renewable power and plan more efficient public transportation systems than any other country on earth. Also in 2018 alone they planted new forests to the size of Ireland! No one is saying their energy generation is perfect but they are making massive strides and are certainly not burying their heads in the sand like some other countries.

        • Lee is that the fabled 97% of scientists as for the government listening to oil companies the only one this and previous governments listen to is Aramco and do not forget with wind power it is installed capacity not what the damned useless things actually provide.

          • It is not a fabled 97%! It is a real factual 97%. You can actually go and look at the current state of the grid and it will tell you the exact generation of each type. It is not hidden away it it out there for all to follow live!!!!! Just go to Grid watch and take a look for yourself. Just as I type this Renewables are producing 20% of the current generation with wind making up the majority of that. As we bring battery storage to the grid we will see renewables proportion balloon even quicker.

            You really need to stop reading the daily mail and do some actual research…

    • Electric cars do not reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Their batteries have to be recharged, and are usually done so using electricity from coal. Since the electricity must be transmitted there is some loss of energy.
      And we never see a life-cycle approach to electric car pollution, including the manufacture and disposal of batteries.

  7. Very easy to cut the fossil fuel ills. Just scrap our armed forces so they are unable to defend our country when the Russian ear comes knocking or our allies in the far East request our support against Chinese aggression.
    Is the world seriously going to stand bycanddo nothing when the ironfist of communist China takes by force Taiwan. This is going to happen. Just a matter of time. Once China thinks the west will calculate that opposing China will cost too much in terms of lives lost, planes, ships, tanks, £.

  9. The times has just published an article about Russia launching a long range nuclear powered drone. Armed with a 3-300MT thermonuclear warhead. Range of 100+ miles, speed of 100+ knots. This is a destroyer of ports and costal cities.
    Meanwhile we do what exactly….yes that’s right unable to sort out the BREXIT mess due to our just crap politicians who embarrass us as a nation more and more every day. Then we cut our armed forces. The Russian’s should be explicitly told if the submarines go to see carrying these drones breach of nuclear proliferation treaties they will be sunk.
    The only defence is many many more astute class submarines that can strangle off Russian sub bases and make any deployment of the drone submarine mother’s hips immediately detected, tracked, targeted and destroyed. urgent operational requirement build another 4-5 astutes.

    • “The Russian’s should be explicitly told if the submarines go to see carrying these drones breach of nuclear proliferation treaties they will be sunk.”

      I really would not go down that route, unless you want World War 3!

      Brexit. Reasons are simple.

      1/ Parliament overwhelmingly approves a referendum for 2016. 600 for if I recall.

      2/ Vote is leave. Biggest in history I read.

      3/ EU drags feet, not wanting UK to leave, too much of a milk cow.

      4/ EU violates its own article 50 holding talks consecutively, wanting money first, and
      leaving trade til later.

      5/ Dear Comrade Corbyn then moans about HMG wasting years not sorting out trade!
      Ignores that in reality it is the EU negotiating style.

      6/ Remoaners come out with every excuse under the sun as to why vote was unfair.
      “Cheats. Racists. Old white people. Don’t know what we are voting for are just some
      insults that spring to mind.

      7/ Same demand second referendum neatly forgetting what votes and democracy are
      actually for, that people died for it and the vote must be respected and acted on.

      8/ HMG deliberately agree a “deal” that it knows will be voted down even by Brexit
      supporting MP’s, as it itself does not want to leave.

      Details of which involve being as a nation unable to apply our own lower tarrifs on trade
      deals if they undercut the EU’s deals with another nation. Called a “level playing field” by
      the EU. I call it EU scared of competition. This according to May means we can agree our
      own trade deals. Yes dear, but under the EU’s rules! Not sovereign my dear, not what was
      voted for.
      Also the Ireland border is now the biggest obstacle in history that even Barbarossa could
      not breach. No Hard border in the Good Friday agreement? Fine. Don’t make one. EU can
      sort it on their side.

      9/ Along with 8, we all know most of Parliament, who ironically gave the vote to the people
      in the first place, don’t want Brexit to happen and will go to great or any lengths to stop
      it. That means you Labour, LibDems, SNP, Greens and Tory Europhiles. Democracy at its
      finest again!

      10/ Fun irony. Over 200 Labour constituencies voted leave and their MP’s are going
      against their own constituents voting remain or trying to block all HMG moves on Brexit.
      It is party politics and it STINKS.

      11/ Comrade Corbyn, in the midst of this crisis, now calls no confidence motion in HMG to
      try and force an election.

      It’s not an election we need, or a “peoples vote” both of which ignore the first historic
      vote for their own reasons.

      WE NEED THE PEOPLE WE ELECT TO ACTUALLY CARRY OUT THE INSTRUCTION THEY
      WERE GIVEN BY THE PEOPLE THEY REPRESENT!!!!!

      Failure to comply proves the UK has become a Banana Republic like so many others, and
      that politicians are obsolete.

      Children of future generations should be taught this betrayal at school.

      It is lucky for Parliament that we Brits have this “Stiff Upper Lip” crap. Because if
      Parliament is burned to the ground in civil war in the next 100 years it would not
      surprise me.

      • I think you are off the mark on some aspects. I did not support a second vote earlier in the process as it was too soon. However I am open to one now as enough time has passed and enough new information now available. It is a bit like everyone having a vote on taking a shortcut. Everyone votes to take the shortcut the group starts walking down the new path and after a little while are confronted by a cliff drop and a pride of lions… Now do you have another vote to see if the group still thinks the shortcut is a good idea or do you go off the edge of the cliff and into the path of the lions purely because everyone agreed on the new route despite not knowing all the potential problems at the time? The sensible thing would be to hold a new vote and then the group can decide on how to proceed.

        The other analogy is buying a house. You see a new house, you fall in love with the new house, you make an offer on the new house. The offer is accepted and the process starts to purchase it. You ask for a survey and it highlights some issues that you were not aware of before. Do you take a moment to think about the purchase and talk to your wife about whether you should still purchase the house or do you refuse to budge and buy it anyway because that was the decision that you both made together 4 month previously?

        We now know so much more about the issues around Brexit that we did not know 2 years ago. If the leavers are right then that is the way people will vote again and we leave, if people have changed their minds then we cancel it all and remain. It is pretty simple and still democratic. Why is it so reprehensible to ask if people still want to do something after they become so much more aware of the facts? If the general opinion of the British public has changed then surely we should listen to that? People after all are allowed to change their minds.

        I do agree with you on the fact that the politicians on all sides have in general acted like children throughout the process… this has not been at all helpful.

          • Hence therefore if you took a shortcut and you then found out it led to death then because that decision had already been made you would refuse to turn back? Or if you mad an offer on a house and you then found out that it was about to fall down you would still buy it? After all you made those decisions and so you would have to stick with them regardless of what extra info turned up… I think not.

          • Lee Fear

            Are you the architect of Project Fear?

            Nothing has changed apart from the establishment, BBC, et al telling society it will be a disaster. What extra info?

            Ones vote to leave based on ones decades of opinion formed on the rights or wrongs of the EU does not change just because the establishment scream, delay, fudge, and generally defy what they offered the public. The vote.

          • I did not say that it would be a disaster (I think it will be, but that is my opinion) I said that we now know much more info. It looks like there could be some serious consequences that we were not told of before or that we simply did not realise. So now that we know much more about the path we chose it is probably prudent to have another show of hands to make sure this is really what people want. After all surely we should make sure? If people vote to carry on leaving then we leave if not we turn around and go back. There is nothing anti-democratic about that. What are you worried about? Surely if leaving is still a good idea and the British public still want to do it then the vote will go the way you want?

          • The leave side did not have to wait 40 years as there was never a leave vote before. It was also a resounding yes (only the outer Hebrides and Shetland voted against it). It did not cause division in any way the same as the current farce. Also there was not much discontent with the result for a long long time. It took the far right to come on to the scene before there was much traction for referendum.

            Also lets not forget the lies, total lies and exaggerations that were present in the referendum campaign. I it was a court case it would have been thrown out and rescheduled.

          • The leave side had to wait FOR A VOTE. That is the point.

            There was not much discontent because the vote was on the Common Market! Not the EU in its current guise. Come on Lee!

            “Far Right on the scene” The usual ammunition always thrown! No Lee.
            Normal peoples discontent and being pissed off what they see, over years. So much so a choice was given them. But of course anyone rejecting the establishment PC view is “Far Right”

            Lies in the referendum campaign. That old chestnut again! As I clarified with you months ago 17 million peoples views are not influenced by claims but by experience. You want lies? I refer you to the Project Fear leaflet put through every door in Britain courtesy of HMG and the taxpayer. Lies. Exaggerations. Propaganda. For an organisation so corrupt itself it has not had its books audited in decades.

            Can you explain how the majority who voted leave were “influenced” by these lies yet the country rejected and were not influenced by the governments propaganda leaflet sent to every home in Britain? Laughable!! One influences but the other does not! Laughable again.

            How about the current shambles from the BBC. Leaving on WTO terms until trade deals are agreed is a “Cliff Edge” and “crashing out”
            Really? In reality, it is trading with the EU like others in the world do, and the free trade deals will follow.

            I’d also suggest that “lies” and “exaggerations” could apply to EVERY political parties manifesto in living memory. But general elections are not declared null and void are they?

            Would we be having this national crisis debate if the vote had been remain? Nope.

            This crisis is the establishments own making. Deliberately. Not the voters who voted honestly as they saw it.

            Or would we now be leaving? Because those who voted remain are clearly mistaken and did not realise what they were voting for.

            Sorry Lee but these straws being clutched are getting increasingly ridiculous!

            All respect to you as I enjoy your posts but I just have to debunk your debunking.

          • I also did not claim that only the leave campaign put out lies. Both sides were abhorrent in the way they went about their campaigns. That is partly my point. We were not given the real information we needed because both sides were happy to lie and exaggerate in order to win political games. My Dad for instance is was absolutely taken in by the leave campaign lies and his main reason for voting to leave was based on them. Others will have seen through the lies and voted on what they knew to be true, many I suspect will be a combination.

            However we now know much more about the real facts and so surely it is a good idea to double check now that the lies have mostly been debunked on both sides and we have better information to base our vote on?

  10. Out means Out no sits around the fireside for a chat and no I cant do this I am so full of anger at what is happening that no comment on here will change anything.

  12. The navy is barely able to keep its commitments, the army is smaller than any time since, 18XX, and the RAF is one third the size of what it should be. But the Mod Is meeting its renewable goals !! Perhaps the Department of Environment is able to defend the nation.

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