Like a virgin, the world's first biofuel-powered plane flew for the very first time from London to Amsterdam on Sunday. (Well, it was a little bit biofueled: One of the plane's four main tanks was filled 20 percent with coconut and babassu palm nut oil.) Virgin mogul Richard Branson celebrated his conquest, and deflected concerns about biofuels' bad rep by pointing out that the nuts were sustainably harvested. However, he admitted that the experiment was unrepeatable on a large scale. Environmental activists were left unsatisfied, dismissing the flight as a publicity stunt.
source: The Guardian, CNN, Bloomberg News, Associated Press
Cautious optimism for Copenhagen deal as Barcelona climate talks end
Another coal plant bites the dust
Barcelona outcome: White House strategy is plea for more time
Comments
View as Flat
Eoin Posted 7:15 am
25 Feb 2008
That said, I suppose Virgin should get some credit for not using corn oil.
Permalink
GreyFlcn Posted 7:54 am
25 Feb 2008
Permalink
Matt Posted 9:13 am
25 Feb 2008
Are airplanes a big enough pollutant for anyone to care about 5%?
Permalink
Tasermons Partner Posted 5:00 pm
25 Feb 2008
Yes, they are. Air travel has gotten to the point that it emits a significant amount of the world's GHGs. And what's worse, they emit it directly into the atmosphere, not at ground level where it might have some chance to be absorbed by plant-life and other factors.
Air travel is much more dirty than land-based travel, since airplanes have no form pollution controls or filters like most ground vehicles do. Plus, air travel is growin' at a tremendous rate. It's expected that worlwide airtravel will nearly double by 2020. Figures vary, but by then it very well could make up to 10% or more or GHG emissions worldwide and over 30% of all emission from transporation sectors.
So any percentage from air travel is important...however, how they try and "substitute" that 5% in this case may do more harm than good.
Permalink
Matt Posted 11:19 pm
25 Feb 2008
Permalink