FLEXGEN TECHNOLOGY OF ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED AT ECONFERENCE

Imagine a busy U.S. military outpost in remote Afghanistan. Where does it plug in its lights, computers, radios and other equipment?

Typically, such off-grid operations get their juice from diesel generators, notorious for guzzling fuel, polluting the air and generally making a terrible racket.

But last year, the Department of Defense enlisted a local recruit to make the battlefield more energy-efficient.

Reporting for duty: FlexGen.

The energy management system, designed by Portsmouth-based Earl Energy, is helping the Navy and Marines reduce fuel consumption and shrink their carbon footprint.

It will soon do the same for the maritime industry, said Doug Moorehead, Earl Energy COO and a former Navy SEAL with graduate degrees in business and engineering from Harvard and MIT.

Put simply, the FlexGen system is an industrial-strength charger that's powered by a lithium-ion battery. Roughly the size of a large microwave oven, the system connects to a diesel generator and provides a cleaner, thriftier, safer energy source.

"We efficiently operate that generator to squeeze as much electrical power out of every drop of diesel fuel as we possibly can," said Moorehead, who will discuss the technology at ODU's ECOnference on April 10.

FlexGen's first maritime client is Vane Brothers, a company with headquarters in Baltimore and locations in Norfolk, Philadelphia, Charleston and New York. Vane will use the system for diesel generators on its tank barges, which deliver fuel all along the Eastern seaboard and down into the Caribbean, said Mason Keeter, Vane's general manager for Hampton Roads and Moorehead's co-presenter at the ECOnference.

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