“What we’ve been seeing is opposition from the oil-producing states,” Cuttino says. “The debate has been troubling.”

Not only will biofuel development pay off in the long-term — military applications could lead to commercially competitive energy by 2018 — but the new fuel options could help cushion the military against market volatility and spikes in fossil fuel prices, Cuttino says. In the middle part of the last decade, for example, the Pentagon’s fuel bill just about doubled, she points out.

While biofuels are expensive now, she says, they will become cheaper as development continues and commercial interest grows. Commercial airlines are already showing a big interest, she notes.