The European Union (EU) released a 94-page list of airlines that must reduce their emissions or will be banned from European airports two days ago. These are airlines of various sorts from all around the world. Some top players include United Airlines, US Airways, and the US Navy.

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There’s another player in the race to make aviation biofuel: camelina.

A Japan Airlines Boeing 747-300 took off from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Friday, with an engine powered by a biofuel made primarily from camelina, making JAL the first airline to test fly the fuel.  The fuel was a mix of camelina (84 percent), jatropha, (16 percent) and algae (less than 1 percent), marking the 1.5 hour flight as the first demonstration flight powered by biofuel made from three feedstocks.

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The term “sustainable” is rarely seen in the same sentence as “airplane.” Maybe because an airplane’s CO2 emissions, per passenger and per mile, are almost as environmentally inefficient as driving a car with one passenger.  So, what’s an ecopreneur to do when trying to be as green as possible, but not able forgo airplanes altogether?

The good news is that the economics of the airline industry—rising fuel prices and a global economic downturn—are leading all airlines to be more forward thinking about sustainability (even if they have a long way to go). But a few airlines are getting love for their environmental efforts.  Take Continental, Virgin Atlantic,  Jet Blue or Southwest. In 2007, Fortune Magazine named Continental Airlines as one of the “10 Green Giants” in America citing the airline’s $16 billion investment in efficient aircraft, fuel-saving winglets that reduce fuel emissions, their 75% reduction in the nitrogen oxide output from ground equipment at its Houston hub, its 13 full-time staff environmentalists and its corporate recycling practices. Virgin Atlantic is also considered a green leader in a black industry. It has new fleets, innovative recycling programs and leading-edge brother-companies, Virgin Green Fund and Virgin Fuel that invest in new products and technologies that will help reduce CO2 emissions.  JetBlue gets good reports because of their newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft and their in-flight recycling and waste-management programs. Southwest is an U.S. EPA Blue Skyways Collaborative Partner and has won environmental stewardship awards including the President’s Environmental Youth Award, the Dallas Water Utilities Blue Thumb Silver Award (2001-2006), the 2007 Port of Portland Aviation Environmental Excellence Award and the 2007 Keep Dallas Beautiful Environmental Excellence Award.

And, just to prove the point that green business is good business, The 2008 Zagat Airline Survey released today named these four airlines as best-in-class on several consumer-based metrics.  According to ZagatBuzz:

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Best part? All you need is a one day course and a powered-parachute license to fly the Skycar.

“I started making a paramotor on wheels that you sit on and take off and it suddenly occurred to me, ‘Why not just have a car that does everything?’” said Gilo Cardozo, who owns a Wiltshire-based company called Parajet.

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It’s that time of year! There are parties and big meals to plan, gifts to get together, and travel plans to finalize. How is a person supposed to live green during such a busy time of year? This week, we’re going to take a look at ways to have a fabulous holiday season without giving up those Earth-friendly ideals. It doesn’t have to feel like a sacrifice!

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With the price of fuel increasing, fuel has become the largest expense for airlines. Airlines can only increase their fares so far without turning their customers away completely. One of the ramifications for this development is that airlines are actively researching and testing methods to increase fuel efficiency and, in the process, reduce greenhouse gases.

In a recent article, Sustainable Industries highlights new green innovations in the air transportation industry.

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Theoretically the agreement whereby airlines from the US and Europe are allowed to land in any airport on the two continents, should lower flight costs, open up airlines to foreign ownership and the create new flight routes between Europe and the US. But it ain’t happening. All of these targets are obscured in heavy clouds.

Virgin Atlantic, which inaugurated the world’s first biofuel flight a few weeks back, told a recent New York news conference that it doesn’t foresee any progress on Open Skies in the near future. The company hasn’t even chosen any destinations for new flight routes and says this is not in the cards for at least another two years.

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Having had a minor makeover in the form of a new terminal building which brings some aspects of travel via Heathrow into the 21^st century, most travellers are still subjected to an experience which does more to discourage flying than any environmental campaign could ever hope to achieve.

However, the real controversy at Heathrow right now concerns the proposal to build a third runway in response to ever increasing demands for capacity. This proposal has a significant environmental footprint; carbon emissions from additional flights alone will be equal to the those of the entire nation of Kenya, up to 4,000 houses may be bulldozed, including the entire village of Sipson, a graveyard and several historically relevant buildings.

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US airlines must pay for their carbon dioxide emissions or face a curb on flights to the European Union, the EU transport commissioner warned yesterday.

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One British strategic communications firm argued that the airline industry essentially needs a PR makeover. Steve Dunne of the Brighter Group went so far as to say that the industry risks sliding into a reputation akin to that of cigarette manufacturers in the U.S.: "The aviation industry is just not representing itself properly or effectively to put the lobbying efforts of the eco-warriors into some kind of perspective."

I’m not convinced the risk is that dramatic — at least here in the U.S. While there are certainly efficiency measures airlines should be considering — such as being towed to a starting point on the runway instead of burning fuel to get there – advocating a total ban on air travel as some do (or even very high taxes) is a losing cause (by the way, I want to hear a convincing argument as to why flying on a commercial plane isn’t public transportation, like taking the bus).

But the pollution problems for the industry could take off: The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that while the CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer have decreased, the increased number of passengers overall has negated that efficiency. Furthermore, the World Wildlife Fund predicts airlines to make up 15 percent of all global CO2 emissions by 2041.

So while the airlines may not be likened to cigarette manufacturers yet, they should consider some reputation management now. And there are good things happening: The International Air Transport Association says they saved 6 million tons of CO2 by shortening routes worldwide. Virgin’s Richard Branson just announced that he’s planning a 747 biofuel test flight for early next year, and Northwest put together a taskforce of employees and managers that came up with ways to cut inefficient fuel use by 31 million gallons per year. To keep up with the increasing number of passengers and the increasing concern about global warming (including carbon regulation), however, the airlines industry will have to continue decreasing their contribution to the problem and keep telling the public about it. Telling their side of the story — while performing real, meaningful leadership — will keep their reputation from taking a nose dive.

Cross posted on Maria Energia

International Herald Tribune

A booming airline industry might be great for the economy, but it’s wreaking increasing havoc with the environment. Aviation today spews out only 3 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, but the segment is expanding fast — faster, in fact, than any improvements in efficiency are likely to keep pace with. According to the Christian Science Monitor,

"Efficiency is only set to improve at 1 or 2 percent per year at best, while the number of passenger kilometers is growing at 5 or 6 percent," says Peter Lockley, head of policy development at the Aviation Environment Federation, a British think tank. "So emissions are going up steadily in the gap between the two."

For some, the answer is to stop flying now, cold turkey. To halt an entire industry dead in its tracks, though, is sure to risk massive, global economic damage. So what other options are there?

The best idea would seem to be a carbon tax on air travel that is hiked incrementally over the next decade or two to the point that flying is increasingly discouraged … and enough funding is raised to support research and development for more sustainable travel alternatives. It’s a better solution than continuing with business as usual, which appears certain to ramp up greenhouse gas emissions to unacceptable levels in the very near future.