Airlines' need for cheap, plentiful biofuel is forcing the industry to scale up
Jet Green
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By TIM NEWCOMB | September 13, 2012 | TIME
At an August meeting in Washington, 17 countries, including the U.S., reaffirmed the aviation industry’s goal of achieving carbon-neutral growth by 2020. It was the most ambitious effort yet to address the issue of carbon emissions in air travel. To meet that goal, energy-efficient planes won’t be enough. The industry will need new, cheaper sources of biofuel for jets and much more of it.
United Airlines displayed its commitment in November when it debuted its first commercial flight using biofuel, on a Continental-operated Boeing 737-800 from Houston to Chicago. “As a company using over 4 billion gallons of jet fuel per year, we are a leading consumer, and we are interested in getting the biofuel market off the ground,” says Jimmy Samartzis, United’s head of sustainability. “If they can produce it, we can use it. As long as it is cost-competitive.”
Cost, not technology, is the rub. Biofuels have the potential to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint by 80%, according to the International Air Transport Association, but that works only if the biofuel industry can scale up to commercial production and scale down prices. U.S. airlines guzzle 18 billion gal. of jet fuel annually—just shy of 10% of the U.S.’s total fossil-fuel use—at a cost of $50 billion, or 25% to 35% of their operating costs. Switching to biofuels would increase jet-fuel costs substantially. When Alaska Airlines debuted its first commercial biofuel-powered flight late last year, it paid six times the cost of traditional jet fuel. United’s biofuel was four times as costly.
At an August meeting in Washington, 17 countries, including the U.S., reaffirmed the aviation industry’s goal of achieving carbon-neutral growth by 2020. It was the most ambitious effort yet to address the issue of carbon emissions in air travel. To meet that goal, energy-efficient planes won’t be enough. The industry will need new, cheaper sources of biofuel for jets and much more of it.
United Airlines displayed its commitment in November when it debuted its first commercial flight using biofuel, on a Continental-operated Boeing 737-800 from Houston to Chicago. “As a company using over 4 billion gallons of jet fuel per year, we are a leading consumer, and we are interested in getting the biofuel market off the ground,” says Jimmy Samartzis, United’s head of sustainability. “If they can produce it, we can use it. As long as it is cost-competitive.”
Cost, not technology, is the rub. Biofuels have the potential to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint by 80%, according to the International Air Transport Association, but that works only if the biofuel industry can scale up to commercial production and scale down prices. U.S. airlines guzzle 18 billion gal. of jet fuel annually—just shy of 10% of the U.S.’s total fossil-fuel use—at a cost of $50 billion, or 25% to 35% of their operating costs. Switching to biofuels would increase jet-fuel costs substantially. When Alaska Airlines debuted its first commercial biofuel-powered flight late last year, it paid six times the cost of traditional jet fuel. United’s biofuel was four times as costly.
(More here.)
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