airlines

Airplanes, corn, and groundwater

January 11, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The aviation industry wants to slash its greenhouse gas emissions. One proposed strategy is to replace ordinary jet fuel with ethanol. Ethanol in this country mostly comes from corn. The airlines are enthusiastic about the idea; corn farmers are enthusiastic about the idea. Ethanol suppliers are obviously enthusiastic about it. But is it a good idea?

Today, nearly 40% of America’s corn crop is turned into ethanol. Twenty years ago, the figure was around 10%. The massive growth was the result of mandates for ethanol augmentation of gasoline for environmental reasons.

But the environmental benefits of corn ethanol have always been controversial at best when all the energy factors are considered. But apart from that, a very serious issue is that corn is a water-intensive crop, and it can take hundreds of gallons of water to produce a single gallon of ethanol. As the climate warms and corn crops expand, groundwater in many corn-growing areas is being increasingly depleted and groundwater provides half our drinking water and meets far more than just the needs of corn farmers.

Corn farmers and ethanol producers see the rapid growth of electric vehicles as a threat to their lucrative business of supplying the auto fuel industry. The ambitious goals of the airline industry to reduce its emissions would likely require nearly doubling ethanol production.

The situation is a powerful example of the tradeoffs that can arise as the world tries to make the transition away from fossil fuel. Even green solutions can have their own environmental cost and sometimes that cost may be too steep.

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Airlines Race Toward a Future of Powering Their Jets With Corn

Photo, posted September 2, 2007, courtesy of Rosana Prada via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sustainable Jet Fuel | Earth Wise

March 29, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

For several years, a few airlines, notably United here in the US, have been experimenting with the use of sustainable jet fuel. Sustainable aviation fuel is made from such things as used cooking oil and agricultural waste. It produces up to 80% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional jet fuel.

To date, when used it has been blended with fossil fuel jet fuel at a fairly low level. United is the largest consumer of sustainable jet fuel in the US, but it accounts for less than one percent of the airline’s total fuel consumption. Unfortunately, sustainable fuel can be as much as three times more expensive than conventional jet fuel.

Because of increasing governmental policy changes, technological breakthroughs, and climate commitments by airlines, efforts to increase the viability of sustainable jet fuel are ramping up.

Recently, United Airlines, Air Canada, Boeing, Honeywell, and JP Morgan Chase made initial contributions of $100 million to a new venture capital fund that will invest in sustainable fuel technology. United expects the fund to grow to $500 million and make about two dozen investments over the next three years.

Emissions from aviation contribute more than two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year. Like many big companies, United Airlines has pledged to stop adding carbon emissions to the environment by 2050. Unlike many, United has also pledged to eliminate emissions without using carbon offsets, which is effectively paying others to do their dirty work without cleaning up their own operations.

Multiple sustainable fuel companies in the US and abroad are working on a variety of ways to make aviation fuel from sustainable sources.

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A Sudden Rush to Make Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mainstream

Photo, posted August 18, 2021, courtesy of Ronen Fefer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Reduced Air Travel And Weather Forecasts | Earth Wise

December 16, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There have been countless stories about the major and minor changes in the world caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. A few of those changes, such as reductions in pollution and traffic, have been positive. Most have been decidedly negative.

One of the stranger things that has happened is that the pandemic has affected the quality of weather forecasting by sharply reducing the amount of atmospheric data routinely collected by commercial airliners.

It turns out that atmospheric observations from passenger and cargo flights are among the most important data used in weather forecasting models. These observations are made by instruments aboard thousands of airliners, mostly based in North America and Europe. The observation program has been in place for decades. The data is transmitted in real time to forecasting organizations around the world, including the National Weather Service. About 40 airlines participate in the program, which has equipment aboard about 3,500 aircraft. Here in the US, Delta, United, American, and Southwest Airlines participate, as do UPS and FedEx.

During the first few months of the pandemic, air traffic declined by 75% or more worldwide. As a result, atmospheric observations dropped by the same percentage. A government research study showed that when weather forecasting models receive less data on temperature, wind, and humidity from aircraft, the accuracy of forecasts was reduced.

The amount of data from aircraft has increased in recent months as air travel has picked up to roughly 50% of pre-pandemic levels. So, the observation program is on the mend. Nonetheless, impaired weather forecasting is just another unexpected result of the global pandemic.

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Slump in Air Travel Hindered Weather Forecasting, Study Shows

Photo, posted July 15, 2017, courtesy of Daria Nepriakhina via Flickr. Photo by Photo by Daria / epicantus.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Delhi Air Pollution Crisis

December 12, 2017 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Delhi, the capital city of India, has always been a city bursting at the seams. With over 19 million people, heavy industry, growing numbers of vehicles, and choking amounts of road dust, Delhi suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the world. It is a situation the country has been struggling with for years.