No sector of the world’s economy is more ripe and ready for the Carbon War Room’s approach to emissions reduction than aviation.
Renewable fuels hold great promise for addressing the aviation industry’s carbon impacts, and innovators and investors alike are clamoring to offer their solutions to rising fossil fuel costs and environmental considerations.
The renewable jet fuels market is on the cusp of remarkable success. Just a few short years ago, the idea of manufacturing fuels from algae, various plant species, waste, industrial off-gases and other feedstocks was theory – a glint in a scientist’s eye. Yet today, through a combination of research breakthroughs and demand from an industry eager to switch from fossil fuels, production of renewable jet fuels in the quantities needed to enable our hunger for air travel is just around the corner.
Technologies are proven, performance tested, and certification by bodies such as ASTM has been gained in a number of cases.
For some of the leading lights in this new market, scale-up to commercial production is underway; others are actively seeking investment to allow the millions of gallons of fuel required to power the world’s aircraft to flow.
No sector of the world’s economy is more ripe and ready for the Carbon War Room’s approach to emissions reduction than aviation.
Encroaching international regulation, rising fuel prices and falling passenger numbers as holidaymakers look closer to home to save money are all contributing to commercial airlines’ healthy appetite for the uptake of renewable jet fuels.
And the airlines are not alone – militaries worldwide consume enormous quantities of aviation fuels. In fact, the US military is the largest buyer of transportation fuels in the world, and is spending tens of millions testing and certifying renewable fuels and has recently committed to spend $170 million on co-financing production facilities with the private sector.
In January the European Union will require airlines that land and take off from member countries to buy emissions permits above a set limit. Point Carbon, a consulting firm, estimates those permits will cost the industry $1.4 billion a year. Australia is also set to impose a carbon tax on domestic jet emissions.
The U.S. Navy has vowed to get half of its fuel from renewable sources by 2020. Virgin America CEO David Cush wants his airline to be running on 10% biofuels by 2020 as a hedge against sudden petroleum price spikes. Says Cush: "The biggest obstacle we'll have to achieving that is simply supply."
Algae is the great green hope for jet fuels. “Theoretically, algae has incredible production capacity,” says Suzanne Hunt, senior advisor to the Carbon War Room, a group cofounded by Virgin’s Richard Branson that is working with airlines and biofuel producers to jumpstart the industry. “Camelina plants and all the other plants that grow on land have to put all this energy into fighting gravity and into roots and fruits and flowers. Algae just floats and grows.”
“As the Pentagon looks to cut oil use, its efforts are giving a boost to start-up technology that could one day go mainstream.”
SUZANNE HUNT: Someone has to pay for those expensive test batches [of renewable fuel]. It’s very similar to what the military did with cell phones and computer chips. They were the ones that bought the big, clunky, super expensive first model.
And they may play a big cultural role in the new energy economy. Hunt says just as the military was an early institution to desegregate — soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen are now early adopters of renewables.
HUNT: They bring that knowledge and that experience back to their communities. And they tend not to be the same communities as one often thinks of — Silicon Valley, Manhattan — whatever people think of with clean tech.
As for alternative fuels, the military has a lot riding on it. The Air Force, Navy and Marines all hope to cut their fossil fuel use in half. But, is the technology ready? Is now the right time to bet on it?
