Boeing’s top enviromental strategist says commercial airlines to fly on biofuels by 2013; adds that only second-generation biofuels can be used

In Sydney, the Head of Environmental Strategy for Boeing said at a conference that he had “changed from being a skeptic to an enthusiastic supporter of sustainable biofuels,” and said that regular commercial services based on biofuels could be operating within five years.

He said that the industry cannot use first-generation biofuels because of low energy content, and added that second-generation biofuels would avoid problems such as requiring large amounts of water or farmland. He predicted that the industry would grow all the feedstock needed for the airline industry in an area about 60 percent of the size of California’s San Bernardino County.

Recently, Boeing has confirmed in tests that a wide range of feedstocks can produce biofuels suitable for jet aircraft, and the company says that these biofuels can be commercially produced on an economically viable basis. Boeing said that it expects to offer both financial and technical support to what it sees as a growing distribution system of jet biofuels.

The company has partnered with Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand to test biofuels on 747s this year. The flight-test will consume 1,000 gallons of biofuel, from an feedstock that is yet to be selected.

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association appointed a global director of environment initiatives.

Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA said, “Air transport takes its environmental responsibility seriously. Alongside safety and security it is a pillar on which we have built a great global industry. Despite our good track record, air transport’s carbon footprint is growing. That is not acceptable. Our vision is for air transport to achieve carbon neutral growth in the medium-term, on the way to a carbon emission free future.”

Paul Steele, the new executive, was formerly COO at the World Wildlife Fund. He will have his work cut out for him. There has been an ongoing dispute between some environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth, and IATA on the tally of emissions.

Environmental groups typically include a calculation called “radiative force”, which attempts to multiply greenhouse gas emissions by a factor that takes into account the effect of high altitude. Using this method, it has been stated that airlines are responsible for 12 to 13 percent of all greenhouse gases. IATA uses a figure of 3 percent, or 600 million tons of CO2.

IATA has set a goal of making planes 25 percent more fuel efficient by 2022, but with airlines expected to increase fleet size by 140 percent in the next 20 years, such an effort would not keep pace with the rate of airline fleet growth.

Accordingly, IATA has set a goal for the airline industry of producing “zero emission” planes within 50 years. The presumption is that new fuel technologies will emerge that will make this possible.

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