Afghanistan: U.S. Spends $20 Billion Per Year for Air Conditioning in Tents ?  

Cryptogon has a startling figure for the cost of air conditioning tents used by the US military - Afghanistan: U.S. Spends $20 Billion Per Year for Air Conditioning in Tents.

This astonishing statistic is mentioned in the audio feature on the page linked below.

Via: PRI:

The term we were looking for is “Forward Operating Base” or FOB. The US has many FOBs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The large ones have many tents and other structures where personnel live and work. And all of them need to be heated in the winter, and cooled in the summer. That can take a lot of fuel.

Steve Anderson is a retired Brigadier General who was General David Petraeus’s chief logistician in Iraq. He says the Pentagon should find ways to make structures at FOBs and other military compounds more energy efficient, not only to save money and be greener, but also, to save lives.