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Virgin Airlines flies first biofuel-powered plane, enviros unimpressed

Posted at 1:12 PM on 25 Feb 2008

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.

sources: The Guardian, CNN, Bloomberg News, Associated Press

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Comments: (5 comments)

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Biofuel-powered?

The headlines for the CNN and AP stories seem to imply that the jet runs entirely on vegetables. If one of the four engines contains a mixture containing 20 percent biofuel, then presumably the whole jet runs on only five percent biofuel. By comparison, the gas in my tank is 10 percent ethanol.

That said, I suppose Virgin should get some credit for not using corn oil.

by Eoin at 2:15 PM on 25 Feb 2008

Besides which

Fischer Tropsch fuels are far more likely than Transesterification fuels for a 100% blend.

-David Ahlport

by GreyFlcn at 2:54 PM on 25 Feb 2008

Besides Besides which

Haven't a growing number of people crunched these numbers already and concluded that biofuels are a draw compared to fossil fuels?

Are airplanes a big enough pollutant for anyone to care about 5%?

If you continue to do what you've always done you'll continue to get what you've always got. - Yogi Berra

by Matt at 4:13 PM on 25 Feb 2008

Very important...

Are airplanes a big enough pollutant for anyone to care about 5%?

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.

by Tasermons Partner at 12:00 AM on 26 Feb 2008

Danke!

Good to know! Thanks!

If you continue to do what you've always done you'll continue to get what you've always got. - Yogi Berra

by Matt at 6:19 AM on 26 Feb 2008

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