At work with Josh Prueher, president of Earl Energy

I was born at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, so you could say I've come full circle. My family has deep Navy roots - both my grandfather and father are Naval Academy graduates, and I followed suit. I graduated in 1996 and then went on to Oxford University, where I studied philosophy, politics and economics, and wound up earning an MBA in 1998.

After eight years of active duty, I worked as a vice president at Goldman Sachs in New York until 2009. In late 2008, through Navy connections, I was introduced to Jerry Miller at Earl Industries in Portsmouth.

We began a series of conversations that culminated in the founding of an affiliate - Earl Energy, in which Jerry's an investor - committed to finding a niche in the renewable energy industry.

The military, we believe, is going to lead the pack in this emerging market - and with good reason. The fact is, in battlefield situations, we're getting killed on fuel logistics.

I studied military history and I know that the Confederate Army, marching around Northern Virginia, was always accompanied by mule trains. Roughly 40 percent of what they carried was mule fodder.

Today, the situation's worse. Non-tactical units account for about 80 percent of the fuel burned in battlefield settings.

The cost in human lives and in dollars is astronomical - one casualty for every 24 fuel resupply convoys in Afghanistan. Guys are dying protecting these convoys.

It's driving the military to adopt strategies that minimize fuel usage on the battlefield. The real cost of the fuel is much higher than people think.

We can buy fuel, for example, for maybe $1 to $2 a gallon in a place like Kuwait. By the time it reaches SEALs in the hills of Afghanistan, once you factor in all the costs of transporting it and protecting it, you're looking at anywhere from $30 to $400 a gallon.

Seeking renewable energy sources is, obviously, a big part of the push to turn this situation around.

There's a second good reason to pursue this path - something we call "strategic islanding," which is really about getting the military off the civilian power grid.

It's no secret that it's highly vulnerable to cyber- and infrastructure attacks as well as the effects of age and deterioration.

The military is now moving to try to get its facilities off the grid and onto independent "micro-grids."

When we were talking about all of this a couple of years ago, we thought why don't we create a business to solve these problems in the near term, finding solutions that could also have long-term applications in the commercial sector?

Our core product is something we call an "Energy at Remote Locations Container" - or EARLCON - which is really a shipping-container stuffed with solar panels, wind turbines and batteries, all fully integrated.

They go for about $180,000 each, and so far we've sold about a half-dozen. We are currently planning a series of them for use in Africa. We've also taken one to a Marine base in a remote part of California, where we proved that the system can reduce fuel consumption by 93 percent.

I love what I do, and I race into work every day. I can't wait to get there. I'm doing something with people I like, respect and trust, with great backgrounds.

When people ask me what we're about, I like to borrow a line from Thomas L. Friedman, the New York Times columnist, who wrote that the time has come for us to invest in our future rather than betting on it.

I encourage people to become problem-solvers. Contribute to a team - find a team that's doing something you believe in, and find a way you can contribute to it.

- As told to Pilot writer Robert McCabe