Thankfully Bertrand Piccard, who flew the Breitling Orbiter hot air balloon around the world in 1999, isn’t mad.  In fact, this idea may just fly.

In 2003 he and the Solar Impulse Foundation announced their intention to fly a Solar Powered Plane around the world.  In 2007, they started to build it.

Now the plane has taken it’s first small, but confident, steps.

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For those eager to absolve the carbon guilt caused by yet another international flight, Heathrow airport is trialling an innovative electric car shuttle fleet to ferry passengers to and from the business car park.

Seeing as Heathrow is the world’s busiest international airport, I suppose the effort is a little bit like launching an attack on a saber-toothed tiger with a blunt knife, or maybe a feather duster… But hey, maybe I’m being unfair - I suppose you’ve got to start somewhere right? And I admit, the system does seem a bit nifty - if not quite as good as the Johnny Cabs (video) in Total Recall.

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The US Air Force has ordered an additional 100,000 gallons of Camelina for their second round of flight tests starting next June. The DOD is trying to find a non food-competitive biofuel that can be blended with jetfuel to reduce carbon emissions and is running tests on several kinds of alternative fuels.

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By 2011 the US Army’s Space & Missile Defense Command has plans to deploy a spy ship, which will be unmanned over Afghanistan. While this is a controversial move in itself, some eco-enthusiasts are applauding the consideration to model the aircraft after an experimental hybrid airship which took flight on a number of occasions in 2006.

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Air travel is a major contributor to climate change. Offsets are a small part of a larger solution.

Today at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) we are launching the Climate Passport program allowing travelers to offset the impact of their air travel through an airport kiosk. This will be the world’s first airport kiosk—giving people the opportunity to calculate the environmental impact of their flights and purchase carbon offsets to address that impact while at the airport.

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Today, Rentech, Inc. announced that it will be supplying renewable synthetic fuels to eight airlines for ground service equipment operations at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

This multi-year agreement will supply the airlines with up to 1.5 million gallons per year of renewable RenDiesel. The airline purchasers under the agreement with Aircraft Service International Group (ASIG) include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, UPS Airlines and U.S. Airways. The airlines will begin using the RenDiesel in 2012, when the plant that will produce the fuel is scheduled to go into service.

“This commercial purchase contract among Rentech, ASIG and the airlines validates the growing demand for synthetic fuels produced by the Rentech Process,” said D. Hunt Ramsbottom, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rentech. “The low-emissions profile and near-zero carbon footprint of our renewable RenDiesel will guarantee that LAX ground service vehicles using this fuel will be among the cleanest and greenest of their kind.”

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When I was nine years old - I just knew something along just these lines was in our futuristic future!

My Jetpack: finally! Here it is; invented by German aerospace engineer Alexander Boeck, and first seen (by me) in the Chinese Olympics. Here, finally, on sale in stores near you, at $269; is that new high tech transport!

I am so down for casually commuting to work at 25 miles an hour, and striding nine feet at a time, and loping gracefully along with the occasional leap over a short building or two.  All while looking like some kind of robotic gazelle - - and one that is two feet taller than me!

And the carbon footprint of this amazingly delightful form of transport? It’s Zilch!

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Earlier this month, a team of scientists at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) successfully tested a new biofuel based on a mixture of canola and soybean oils, and claim it may be the key to zero emission aviation [video].

The new super-biofuel, known as Jet Propellant-8 (JP-8) was used to launch a rocket above the Mojave Desert, where it approached the speed of sound and reached an altitude of 20,000 feet - a major leap forward in biofuel-powered flight.

Speaking about the launch Carsten Heide, associate director for the EERC said, “We demonstrated that this fuel is a flying fuel, and is 100% renewable and burns clean. It would open up the possibility to run 100% renewable, clean planes. You can see in the picture how clean it burns.”

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A far reaching report has called on the aviation industry to drastically increase the use of biofuels, to make a 60% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The study, called ‘Green Skies Thinking‘, was published today by right wing think-tank Policy Exchange, and advocates the phase-in of an EU Sustainable Bio-Jet Fuel Blending Mandate by 2020, which would force aviation companies to commit to a rising proportion of jet fuel from sustainable bio-jet fuels.

Crucially, the report also reckons that growing the feedstock needed for advanced biofuels would require significantly less land and be more sustainable than first generation biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, generally used by road transport.

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Earlier this week, the world’s first piloted aircraft powered solely by hydrogen fuel cells, took to the skies above Hamburg Airport, Germany, producing zero carbon dioxide emissions.

The Antares DLR-H2, jointly developed by the German aerospace centre DLR, Lange Aviation, BASF Fuel Cells and Denmark’s Serenergy, has a range of 750km (390nm) and can stay airborne for 5 hours at top flying speeds of about 90kt (170km/h).

According to DLR, a main hurdle was improving fuel cell performance capabilities and efficiency to such an extent that the motor glider could take off using fuel cell power alone. DLR’s Johann-Dietrich told reporters, “This enables us to demonstrate the true potential of this technology.” (see more pictures after the jump).

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First we had electric trains. Then electric cars. Now, airplanes.

Sonex, a national leader in providing affordable high performance kit aircraft, is developing a concept Waiex E-Flight Electric-Powered plane.

I caught up with Mark Schaible, Marketing Director for Sonex, at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture last year, the largest aircraft event on the planet. The EAA AirVenture is held in July and early August every year in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at the Wittman Regional Airport.

“That’s our goal,” says Schaible, surrounded by the entire family of kit aircraft, including the Sonex Sport Trainer, Sonex Sport Acro and Xenos Sport Motorglider.  “Keep ahead of the marketplace with an electric airplane.  Someone is going to do it, so it might as well be us. We have made a lot of progress and are working very hard toward first flight [with our Waiex E-Flight Electric Powered aircraft].”

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On Wednesday, June 10, astronaut Maurizo Cheli set a world record while piloting the fully electric SkySpark. During an eight-minute flight at the World Air Games 2009 in Turin, Italy, he hit a top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h).

That’s a record speed for a 100-percent electrically powered aircraft.

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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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Due to lack of biofuels supply, the companies have suspended their testing program.  Rolls Royce planned to test four alternative fuels on a RB211 engine taken from one of British Airway’s Boeing 747 aircraft, but only three responses were issued from worldwide tenders.  Only one of the three responses said it could meet the sustainability criteria (be produced without a detrimental impact on food, land or water), but the tender could not deliver enough biofuel supply to conduct long-term testing.  According to Green Air Online:

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A protester from the anti-aviation group Plane Stupid managed to toss a cup of green slime in the face of Lord Mandelson before scolding him for his support for the third runway at Heathrow airport.

Amazingly, the woman walked away without being arrested and has now come forward to identify herself as 29-year-old Leila Deen. She said that Mandelson is directly responsible for the approval of the plans to build the third runway.

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Nine anti-aviation activists with the group Plane Stupid Scotland shut down an Aberdeen airport in protest of its plans for expansion.

The airport expansion is being funded and supported by Donald Trump, who is opening a nearby golf resort — which in itself is a point of contention with environmentalists for its location on previously-protected land.

While some of the Plane Stupid activists played golf inside fortified security fencing, others (including one dressed as Trump) scaled the terminal building and unfurled a banner that read “Nae Trump Games with Climate Change.”

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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 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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Hangar 25 at Bob Hope airport in Burbank, CA - Interior

Shangri-La Industries has introduced its newly formed business unit, Shangri-La Construction, at today’s unveiling of their inaugural project: Hangar 25, the world’s first aviation hangar to achieve Platinum certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System™ at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California.

Shangri-La Industries is a diversified firm integrating environmentally-conscious development, sustainable construction and innovative green technology to create the next generation of business solutions. Steve Bing, the founder and environmental advocate recognized that reducing energy consumption would not only yield environmental benefits, but also generate significant cost savings.

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