NRDC urges U.S. and Canadian airlines to favor renewable energy over dirty fuel.
source: http://beyondoil.nrdc.org/
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When it comes to scrutiny over carbon emissions, the airline industry has long gotten a free ride. That ride, however, is due for a landing. Global warming pollution from planes is expected to increase 60 percent by 2025, meaning airlines can no longer be exempt from carbon reduction efforts.
NRDC is urging the CEOs of 15 airlines and airfreight companies in the United States and Canada to embrace clean, renewable fuels and fuel efficiency instead of supporting dirty fuels made from coal, Canadian tar sands and oil shale.
These unconventional fuels are two to five times more polluting to produce than conventional oil, and extracting them devastates the environment. But both United and American Airlines have backed expanding the current million-barrel-per-day production of Canadian tar sands oil and JetBlue has supported liquid coal -- despite the harm caused by extracting and using these fuels.
The environmental consequences of using dirty fuels go beyond these fuels' tremendous contribution to global warming. Accessing tar sands oil requires tearing through the Canadian boreal forest, home to bears, lynx, caribou, songbirds and waterfowl. Meanwhile, liquid coal looms as the next big dirty fuel, with 10 U.S. facilities proposing to manufacture it. The process of turning coal into gasoline creates twice as much global warming pollution as turning conventional oil into gas; it also heightens the health and environmental problems faced in coal-mining regions. The third type of dirty fuel, oil shale, would be mined from public lands in the West, further depleting the region's already scarce water resources, threatening wildlife habitat and increasing air pollution.
Airlines can take two key steps to help usher in a sustainable energy future. First, rather than embracing dirty fuels, airlines can join the push for research and development of cleaner fuels, such as algae-based fuel and biobutanol, which can be made from sugar, beets, corn, wheat and straw. Second, airlines can improve their overall fuel efficiency. This can be accomplished through purchasing more fuel-efficient planes, such as Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner; better traffic control and routing; electric aircraft towing and fuel-saving descent practices.
Not all airlines are behind the curve when it comes to stopping global warming. Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic Airways has already signed on to invest in advancing biofuels and announced his intention to fly a Virgin Atlantic 747 on a 60 percent biofuel-kerosene mixture in 2008.
NRDC is urging the CEOs of 15 airlines and airfreight companies in the United States and Canada to embrace clean, renewable fuels and fuel efficiency instead of supporting dirty fuels made from coal, Canadian tar sands and oil shale.
These unconventional fuels are two to five times more polluting to produce than conventional oil, and extracting them devastates the environment. But both United and American Airlines have backed expanding the current million-barrel-per-day production of Canadian tar sands oil and JetBlue has supported liquid coal -- despite the harm caused by extracting and using these fuels.
The environmental consequences of using dirty fuels go beyond these fuels' tremendous contribution to global warming. Accessing tar sands oil requires tearing through the Canadian boreal forest, home to bears, lynx, caribou, songbirds and waterfowl. Meanwhile, liquid coal looms as the next big dirty fuel, with 10 U.S. facilities proposing to manufacture it. The process of turning coal into gasoline creates twice as much global warming pollution as turning conventional oil into gas; it also heightens the health and environmental problems faced in coal-mining regions. The third type of dirty fuel, oil shale, would be mined from public lands in the West, further depleting the region's already scarce water resources, threatening wildlife habitat and increasing air pollution.
Airlines can take two key steps to help usher in a sustainable energy future. First, rather than embracing dirty fuels, airlines can join the push for research and development of cleaner fuels, such as algae-based fuel and biobutanol, which can be made from sugar, beets, corn, wheat and straw. Second, airlines can improve their overall fuel efficiency. This can be accomplished through purchasing more fuel-efficient planes, such as Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner; better traffic control and routing; electric aircraft towing and fuel-saving descent practices.
Not all airlines are behind the curve when it comes to stopping global warming. Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic Airways has already signed on to invest in advancing biofuels and announced his intention to fly a Virgin Atlantic 747 on a 60 percent biofuel-kerosene mixture in 2008.
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