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Greening Air Travel
Alex Steffen, WorldChanging
Air travel seems to be one of the few unsustainable practices for which there is no good fix or substitute. Because of their inefficiency and the high altitudes at which they fly, jet engines are particularly potent greenhouse gas emitters. What’s more, there don’t really seem to be any super-cool engine technologies waiting in the wings: there’s no hybrid-electric car waiting to replace this SUV.
That doesn’t mean that a whole bunch of people aren’t out there looking for some interim solutions. A whole host of small steps have been proposed: using electric vehicles to taxi; flying directly; using shorter and steeper approaches; shutting down engines during delays; reducing the number of first- and business-class seats;
They probably all have some merit, but they are comparatively minor fixes.
(30 August 2007)
To go green in jet fuel, Boeing looks at algae
Ãngel González, Seattle Times
Once reluctant to believe that alternative energy made any sense in jet airplanes, Boeing now ponders how to take the biofuels revolution off the ground.
The world’s largest airplane maker is working with fuel developers from around the world to find the holy grail of alternative fuels: one that will shrink jet flight’s substantial environmental footprint without requiring an overhaul of the world’s existing airplane fleet.
… Sometime next year, the company, in partnership with Virgin Atlantic and engine maker GE Aviation, plans to fly a biofuel-propelled 747.
The company is testing biofuels from different origins, ranging from soybeans – a well-established source of biodiesel – to algae.
…it’s not an easy task. First, unlike ethanol, the ideal fuel would need to pack the same energy punch that fossil fuels do. Second, it must remain liquid at the low temperatures that surround an aircraft in flight – biofuels tend to solidify more quickly than their fossil-derived equivalent.
Third, producing it in quantities to feed jets’ enormous appetite must be environmentally sustainable – which bodes ill for fuels derived from land-hungry crops such as soybeans.
…Cracking down on carbon
Though using biofuels in planes is still far off, the airline industry is already taking steps to reduce its fuel consumption and carbon footprint. Measures such as these improved fuel efficiency per passenger mile by 12 percent between 2000 and 2005:
• Taxiing with a single engine
• Shutting down the engine during delays
• Measuring, reducing and redistributing weight
• Higher cruising altitudes, shorter and steeper approaches
• Reducing time spent in the air
• Adopting paint schemes that reduce air resistance
(30 August 2007)
Good article which applies critical thinking to industry claims. Even so, the reporter does not mention the common sense solution: fly less. -BA
Flight of fancy?
Alok Jha, The Guardian
Californian company prepares to go back to the future with a new flying car
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In fictional visions of the future they fill the skies, zipping people around in air-cushioned comfort. But flying cars have been conspicuously absent from real life.
That could change, though, with the imminent launch of the M200G, a derivative of the M200X flying saucer-shaped car demonstrated recently by Moller International of California.
The vehicle is the result of 30 years of work by Paul Moller, an aeronautical engineer who imagines a future where we will all be commuting and heading for the shops along aerial highways.
According to the company website, the M200G’s rotor fans generate 150 horsepower of thrust and allow the car to hover 3m (10ft) off the ground, much like a helicopter. Dr Moller claims to have conducted hundreds of test flights already and wants to sell the M200G for around $90,000 (£45,000).
He plans to put them on sale within the next few months, but it is unclear which US government department – the Federal Aviation Administration or the Department of Transportation – would be able to authorise use of a flying saucer.
(31 August 2007)
Photo at original.
Stuck in guzzlers on road to nowhere
Anne Davies, Sydney Morning Herald
…Asking Australians to give up four-wheel-drives would be contentious. In the United States it could be political suicide.
In the US, cars – and big cars – are deeply ingrained in the lifestyle. This is the home of the road movie, where an entire two hours can be filled with a tale of crossing wide open spaces. People in American cities think nothing of a two-hour drive each way to work as their cities continue to expand.
…Despite rising petrol prices and increasing awareness of the danger posed by climate change, sales of large gas-guzzling vehicles are up in the US, after an initial dip in 2004 and 2005, when petrol prices spiked.
Sales of RVs have jumped 22 per cent in the past three years. Last year, the industry sold 390,500, the highest sales in 28 years. Sales of SUVs are also up. After a two-year slump, sales of these beasts, especially the behemoth models, have skyrocketed.
The numbers for large SUVs rose nearly 6 per cent in the first quarter of this year, and April figures were up 25 per cent from April last year, according to vehicle manufacturers’ statistics provided by Edmunds.com, an automotive research website.
…The difficulties for the US in curbing its use of fuel are reflected throughout US politics.
Just before it went on its summer break, the US House of Representatives passed a wide-ranging energy bill that will require most utilities to produce 15 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar power. It also includes new requirements for energy efficiency in appliances and government buildings and billions of dollars in incentives for production of alternative fuels and new research on capturing carbon emissions.
The bill outlaws the sale of 100-watt incandescent light bulbs by 2012 and requires that all bulbs be three times more efficient than today’s ordinary bulbs by 2020. And without saying how it will be done, it says the US Government must become carbon neutral by 2050.
But an important provision – energy efficiency standards for cars – was quietly dropped from the bill at the last minute. It had been originally planned for a requirement of 35 miles per gallon (or 6.7 litres per 100 kilometres) by 2020.
By way of comparison, the Australian Government has an agreement with the car industry that involves a target of reducing the average fuel consumption of new cars sold in Australia from 8.43 litres per 100 kilometres to 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres by 2010. The current Holden Commodore model uses 11 litres per 100 kilometres.
Greenpeace’s energy policy specialist in the US, John Coequyt, says the deletion was the work of a powerful senior Democrat, John Dingell, the chairman of the House energy committee and a congressman from Detroit, home of America’s car industry. Dingell is married to Debbie Insley, a grand-daughter of General Motors’ Fisher brothers who is an executive at GM.
(1 September 2007)
