Introduction
Increasing United States export of Sustainable Energy Technologies in Micro-grids (SETM)® in United Nations Department
of Peacekeeping Operations (UN DPKO), and perhaps other
Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) are probable given global security’s interdependency with energy security. What is the current
use of SETM in UN PKO given UN Millennium Development
Goal #7 (MGD#7), ensuring environmental sustainability?
How can the U.S. Army directly participate in the increase in
U.S. SETM exports to UN PKO by training less developed
countries1 (LDCs) to use them? How will opportunities for
LDCs to acquire new, refurbished, and sustainable electricity
generation, as a result of SETM use in UN PKO, lead to increased LDC security and sustainable economic development?
We live in a very complex world where seemingly unrelated
fields of science, technology, and information meld, reflecting
increased control over our natural and social environment more
than we previously thought. Discussing possible answers to the
above questions is a worthwhile endeavor and inevitably may
lead to worthwhile missions and deployments.
Leaders of science, sociology, and anthropology profess evolving opportunities humans have to avoid conflicts attributed to
man-made, industrial, fossil fuel-created climate change. Climate change droughts, floods, and storms limit the availability
of scarce resources, resulting in conflict. However, with inventions, innovations, and reforms of existing ideas, technologies,
and governance methods of the world’s people and resources,
there are plenty of opportunities to repair, and in some cases, reverse the climate damage to the environment, and help
eliminate the scourge of war. There are battles fought and UN
PKO conducted in the name of deterring aggression, maintaining treaties, and resolving armistices in the war resulting from
climate change disasters/conflicts.
What are the metaphoric weapons brought to these battles
to deter the scourge of man-made climate change war? The
weapons are SETM. SETM are reliable electricity micro-grids
that use renewable energy like solar and wind power, to name a
couple, to provide power to stand alone and grid tied electrical
infrastructures. Some examples of such systems are, in part,
located at Sandia National Laboratory, called Smart Power
Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy, Reliability, and Security (SPIDERS).2 There are several U.S. national laboratory,
non-profit, and academic research projects developing SETM at
levels to address UN PKO power needs.
Although many countries have national SETM research programs, the U.S., also the leading UN financial contributor to
both the UN (22%3) and the UN DPKO (28%4), has been
16
working tirelessly on SETM since before the 2000 West Coast
blackouts, and the ensuing Northeast black and brown outs.
The scale and complexity identified during these U.S. SETM
trials lends well to SETM applications in UN PKO. The Galvin
Center is another example of how SETM is used at the university campus-sized level.
The Galvin Center partnered with the U.S. Department of
Energy to build the first-ever Perfect Power microgrid - an
electric system that will not fail - at IIT's main campus in
Chicago. Beginning in 2008, this $13 million partnership
has developed the first functional smart microgrid in the
country. This flagship system will confront and model - for
other campus environments, municipalities, community
developments, and more - a solution to the nation's energy
crisis.5
Galvin’s SETM trial models are comparable to the sizes of UN
PKO communities, especially within the refugee camp-sized
operations settled within UN PKO.
UN DPKO /UNEP efforts battling climate change and
resulting conflicts
Ninety-eight percent of international academic and industrial
studies show all nations must act now to significantly reduce
CO2 emissions. The U.S. Global Change Research Program
stated, “Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced…,”6 indicating a human war on Earth’s ecosystems.
The world has arguably seven distinct ecosystems that suffer as
the seasons change. Regardless of why humans are conducting
this war on these ecosystems, the fact that the global temperature has increased over the past 50 years is not up for debate.
The research group further states, “This observed increase is due
primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases
[CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels].”7 As LDCs
reach new levels of economic industrial prosperity and with
increased levels of climate change, efforts required to include
SETM in UN PKO within LDCs becomes more critical and
emergent. Moreover, Justin Guay supports LDCs building their
economies with SETM, with World Bank participation i n his
article.”8
Answering the call to implement World Bank recommended
global energy policy is in part the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in partnership with the UN DPKO. A
recent joint research and publication project was released by the
UN focusing on UN DPKO and UNEP missions. The report
addressed a component of SETM, solar energy. The UNEP
publication Greening the Blue Helmets states, “Several missions
use photovoltaic solar units on a limited scale, including UNI-