Green Options » airline

Air New Zealand’s Biofuel Flight Cuts Emissions By 65%

Jerry James Stone — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:12:30 +0000

At the Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington, Air New Zealand’s Chief Pilot Captain David Morgan announced the company’s findings on a test flight from last December. Powered by a combination of biofuel and jet fuel, the test resulted in a fuel savings of 1.2%. It also cut CO2 emissions by over 60%!

While a 1.2% fuel savings doesn’t seem like much, that is over 1 ton of fuel!

The test was conducted using a commercial 747-400 fitted with Rolls Royce engines. Rolls Royce had certified the fuel — a 50:50 blend of standard Jet A1 fuel and synthetic paraffinic kerosene derived from jatropha oil.

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The Eco-Friendly Skies: Greening the Airline Industry

Lisa Wojnovich — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:09:54 +0000

Yet another product has been added to the list of new and innovative things we can make from corn. Recently, Dupont Tate & Lyle Bio Products announced that, working in conjunction with Kilfrost, a major producer of de- and anti-icing fluids for aircraft, they have come up with a new de-icer derived from non-petroleum sources — namely, corn and sugar.

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Poisonous Plants Fuel Planes

Allison Boyer — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:27:29 +0000

The search for alternative fuels is nothing new, but one New Zealand airline think they may have found a solution in, of all places, a poisonous plant.

This week, Air New Zealand tested fuel made from the oil of the jatropha plant as part of their search for alternatives to traditional fuel. On December 30, they flew a Boeing 747 for two hours with a combination of 50% jet fuel and 50% jatropha oil fuel.

Jatropha in an inedible shrug that grows mainly in India and Africa and has recently been grown in mass quantities for its biofuel potentials. Although it grows in arid climates and makes use of land not able to be used for food crops, it is also a labor-intensive plant with unreliable yields. So, it isn’t a miracle solution. Yet.

Air New Zealand hopes to use biofuels for about 10% of their total fuel needs by 2013.

Picture via loungefrog at sxc.hu.

First Commercial Jet Flight Using Jatropha Biodiesel a Success

Nick Chambers — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:13:07 +0000

After postponing the flight for about a month, Air New Zealand has become the first airline to test a 50/50 blend of second generation jatropha biodiesel and standard A1 jet fuel in a Boeing 747-400 passenger jet. The company has hailed the test as a milestone for commercial aviation.

The flight lasted two hours and ran one of the plane’s Rolls-Royce engines on the jatropha biodiesel blend. Air New Zealand has previously stated that they want to become the world’s most sustainable airline and hopes that by 2013, 10% of its flights will be powered by biofuel blends such as the jatropha biodiesel blend used in this test flight.

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Air New Zealand Schedules First Commercial Biofuel Flight

Nick Chambers — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:13:41 +0000

On December 3rd, Air New Zealand will be the first commercial airline to power one of its jets with a second generation non-food biofuel made from the Jatropha plant. Jatropha is viewed as having a huge potential as a major source of oil for sustainable biofuel production.

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Diversifying America’s Transportation Portfolio: A “Green Deal”

Nick Chambers — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:49:30 +0000

Okay. Let me get this one out of the way: gas hasn’t been all bad. In fact, gas has allowed us to accomplish some pretty amazing things. To be clear, when I say “gas,” I’m using the term as an easy way to loosely refer to all liquid fuel products made from buried and fossilized hydrocarbon deposits.

Ooooh… I can hear the flamers’ keys clicking away furiously already. But, before you type that horribly thought out gunslinging response, hear me out.

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