AMEVoice

 A European website that compares over 140 well-known airlines and suppliers to find cheap flights for consumers, created this graphic with statistics primarily on the airline industry’s carbon emissions.  (Click the graphic at the bottom to enlarge).

How are airlines and manufacturers doing with bio-fuels? Aircraft manufacturers, a mix of airlines and engine manufacturers have teamed up to progress forward with implementing bio-fuels into commercial flights. Virgin Atlantic, perhaps one of the more vocal airlines on the matter, tested a coconut / babassu based bio-fuel on a Boeing 747 General Electric engine in February of 2008. Other airlines, like Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, and Japan Airlines (JAL), have flown successful test flights with Rolls-Royce, CFM, and Pratt & Whitney engines, respectively, on Boeing airplanes.

The latest news? Airlines, manufacturers, and other aspects of the aviation industry are evaluating options to determine the sustainability of biofuels for expanded and broader usage. On Monday, it was announced that Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Portland International Airport, Spokane International Airport, Boeing, Alaska Airlines, and Washington State University will spend six-months studying how biomass sources might produce aviation fuel. According to the BusinessWeek article, Boeing has said that by 2015, it and other aircraft makers and airlines want to use biofuels for 1 percent of annual fuel consumption – about 500 million to 600 million gallons. Possible fuel sources are algae, jatropha oil, coconut, camelina, and babassu.

It will be quite some time before a fair amount of major airline flights are flown solely on bio-fuels, but this is still in the testing phase, and it will be interesting to watch as time moves forward.