Article originally appeared in Eco in the Sydney Morning Herald on May 28, 2008
Fuel from algae, glide approaches and redesigned aircraft will help cut flying's carbon footprint, writes Justin Wastnage.
An area the size of Belgium could be used to farm enough algae to power the entire world's aircraft, Craig Saddler, president of Boeing Australia told an aviation environment summit in Sydney recently. "Not that we'd actually use Belgium," he added quickly.
Boeing, like many in the air transport industry, sees great potential in diesel produced from organic sources rather than fossil fuels. The current front-runner is biodiesel produced from sea algae, which sucks up carbon dioxide as it grows. Virgin Atlantic recently trialled biodiesel on a short flight from London to Amsterdam and Air New Zealand is planning a trans-Tasman flight using the fuel later this year.
And just this week the Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, announced $166,000 in government funding for a biodiesel plant and algae farm in Townsville, which would produce about 290 million tonnes of biodiesel by 2010.
However, despite the massive money now going into future aviation fuels, the zero-emission flight is decades off. But that did not stop Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, shocking its annual assembly last September by calling for "carbon-neutral growth in the medium term and eventually carbon-free". By 2050, he predicted, aircraft would no longer pollute at all.
Meanwhile, there are some less headline-grabbing measures being taken to cut aviation's carbon footprint. In Europe, halving 2000's carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft by 2020 is enshrined in law. Most of this is to come from redesigning aircraft and the engines that power them, says Tony Davis, chief executive of the Australian office of engine maker Rolls-Royce.
To read the article in full, click here to go to SMH.com.au
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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