The Combat Center will host this week the Experimental Forward Operating Base, or ExFOB, the Marine Corps’ innovative process to identify and evaluate energy-efficient technologies. Marines in Afghanistan are using new technologies that were presented at previous ExFOBs. These innovations include renewable energy technology that resulted in the reductions of fuel consumption by 90 percent, and a reduction of weight loads for combat foot patrols through the use of solar-rechargeable batteries for communications equipment and other energy-intensive items. At this week’s demonstration, there will be 13 technical demonstrations by 10 commercial vendors and 9 government-sponsored displays of hybrid technologies to produce power in austere environments.
