Army greens

Remarkably, the Pentagon is spearheading a movement to make the federal government more eco-friendly. Last week, the Department of Defense held a two-day showcase of environmentally-sound products, “everything from bio-based building materials and spray insulation to industrial lubricants and degreasers,” according to USAgNet. And on Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force tested a 50-50 natural gas- and crude oil-based jet fuel as part of its research on alternative energies.

Still, it may take a lot of of eco-friendly products to transform the DoD’s reputation for waste. There’s the billions in waste and inefficiency, not to mention the polluting. Just this week, the DoD had to account for how military computers wound up in an illegal dump in Hawaii. But perhaps it will take the interest of the DoD, the biggest spending department by far, to push the bio-based product industry into the mainstream.