Green Options

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:

By turning a long line of mirrors, the first solar thermal plant in nearly two decades was launched last week in Bakersfield, California. Unlike solar photovoltaic systems that convert sunlight into electricity, this plant will focus sunlight on tubes that contains water. The light heats the water, creating steam, thus turning turbines.

Lake Mead has a 50-50 chance of becoming a dry lake bed by 2021, according to new research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego.

Marine physicist Tim Barnett and climate scientist David Pierce reached that conclusion after analyzing the region’s current and planned water usage and taking into account the ongoing impact of climate change.

Furthermore, they acknowledge their projections are based on conservative estimates … meaning [...]