Green Options

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Not everyone has the same definition for the term ‘renewable-fuel’.

The United States Air Force is well on their way to becoming coal-powered. On Monday, the USAF carried out a transcontinental test flight using a 50-50 blend of standard jet fuel and coal-based ’synfuel’.

“The Air Force is taking a leadership role in testing and certifying the use of synthetic fuel in aircraft,” Secretary Wynne said. “We’re working very closely with our Army and Navy colleagues to ensure that this fuel is capable of operating in all of our aircraft. This is especially important because JP-8 military jet fuel is commonly used in the battlefield by the Army and Marines tactical vehicles and generators, as well as our respective aircraft.”

While synthetic fuel has the capacity to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it could also double CO2 emissions produced by military flight. At the time of this writing, synfuel is made via Fischer-Tropsch process from either coal or natural gas to produce a somewhat cleaner burning but extremely greenhouse-gas intensive product.

Hundreds of climate change activists gathered near London’s Heathrow airport yesterday to protest against extension plans and greenhouse gas emissions. Demonstrators assembled just north of the airport for a week-long campaign aimed at highlighting both the double standards of the British government and the aviation industry’s damaging impact on the environment.

The British government has vowed to reduce green house gas emissions, but at the same time it supports plans to expand [...]

Following in step with Boeing's prophecy for future aviation biofuels, the Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded a $1.1 million contract to Shell Oil to produce synfuel for the U.S. Air Force and one NASA facility. The contract, signed on June 6th, requires Shell to produce and ship 315,000 gallons of synfuel through August 1-31, 2007.

What, you might ask, is 'synfuel'? As

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The aviation industry may one day be powered by algae. Manufacturing giant Boeing says that a biodiesel alternative made from algae could be the aircraft biofuel of the future.

Last month, in an 8-page document plainly titled "Alternative Fuels for Commercial Aircraft", Boeing presented their estimation of the alternative fuel sources that could 'relieve worldwide pressure on crude-oil derived fuels' and drive air travel to carbon neutrality.

The biofuel debate has largely glossed

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