British Airways' to Create Jet Fuel from Landfill Waste
02.24.10
By: Sam Grover
publication: Cars and Transportation(Aviation)
Link:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/british-airways-jet-fuel-landfill-waste.php?campaign=th_rss
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| Will it actually work? |
Summary: This article talks about that while the US air force announced that algae jet fuel may be just months away from being available everywhere, greener scientists are looking for even more cleaner alternative to Diesel gas which airplanes use. British Airways has been pushing ahead with its own plans and sustainable jet fuel,
their current plan is to create gas or jet fuel from landfill waste.
According to Renewable energy world magazine, British airways plans waste to energy fuel plants in east London and it should be converting 500,000 tons of organic waste per year into 16 million gallons of jet fuels.
British airways hopes to be using this green kind of fuel by 2014 and by 2050 their goal is to reduce by 50% their emissions. This kind of fuel will be produced by feeding waste into a patented high temperature gasifier, producing BioSynGas which is then converted into jet fuel using the Fischer Tropsch process. An addition for those good news is that the project will also reduce methane emissions from landfill to create a further by-product of 20 MW electricity per year. British Airways also currently committing to only 10% use of such bio-fuels by 2050.
Opinion: I think that British airways are onto something very interesting, if this idea would grow and spread around the world we could expect much more cleaner skies than what we have right now, i think it is much better to have airplane that runs at least 10% on landfill waste than an airplane which uses 100% fossil fuels, which is much more necessary for the people in the world. I also think that every change would be better for the would than what it is right now, i hope this idea would spread and will be use as a jet fuel all around the world.
3 questions about the passage:
1. Do you think that a jet fuel produced by landfill waste would really work? explain your opinion
2. Do you think we should protect our fossil fuels by trying other alternative ways to create energy?
3.How do you explain the rush of some companies to find an alternative energy source? Do you think the fossil fuels would run out faster that the government actually tells us?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is great that British airways is trying to produce oil like this. If they could succeed then they would be making a phenominal example for all other major transportation companies to folow in their footsteps. i hope that they succeed. even though only 10% of their planes will run on this fuel, it will still reduce their carbon footproint. I have been flying on british airways with my family all my life, because of their good service, but now i have an even greater reason to fly with them.
ReplyDeleteHere is another link pretaining to british airways. it says just about the same thing that lior said but it also states that another company names Selena is also trying to do the same thing British Airways are and create this jetfuel. British airways are so happy that there are other companies trying to do this that they signed a 10 year offtake to buy all the jetfuel produced. Even other companies are getting in on this project. The car company Rolls-Royce is going to do this also. They are a very big car company that produce multi-million dollar cars
The link is
http://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=979
I think the fact that people are just trying to come up woth an alternative jet fuel is great. If British Airways do this then other companies will want to come up with something cleaner and so on. This could be the start of the domino effect. Even if it's only 10% of the panes, its a start and it can make a difference. If a lot of people fly with them then it will make an even bigger differnce. I hope this spreads across the world and other companies try this like Shalin said.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2
I think its a great idea to protect our fossil fuels too because like we learned if we go at the rate we've been going, there's only a certain amount of years left.
I have to say I really like the idea of airways using landfill waste as fuel for their planes. The idea is actually like killing two birds with one stone, because you would be eliminating some of the use of fossil fuels, there for lowering the amount of pollution, and you would be eliminating a lot of the trash that sits in landfills. The trash that sits there both takes up space as well as sometimes ruins the soil that it's sitting on. Personally I think that this would be a very good idea, and hopefully they find ways to use this new kind of fuel in other ways too.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question 2, I think that we definitely without a doubt need to find energy sources to make up for our fossil fuels. At this point in time, it's not an option. We rely so heavily on fossil fuels and we know for a fact that in a couple hundred years there won't be any left. We need to start figuring out ways to make up for our future lack of fossil fuels, or else we may be stuck not being able to get the electricity or the fuel we need, because it's no longer as readily availible to us.
I think using a different source of fuel is great! Airplanes use so much gasoline and they pollute the air. If airplanes started using eco-friendly fuel, then maybe it would influence a gasoline company to be made that sells gas made of 100% organic waste. Using this type of different and renewable fuel, it is renwable because there is so much trash and waste, is not only good for our environment, but it will decrease the amount and size of landfills. Switching to a different source of fuel and energy is unavoidable because soon fossil fuels will run out and then where will the world be? We are so dependent on oil that if we did not have any, we would not be able to get from place to place, have electricity, etc. If the world procrastinates making an alternative soure of energy, then when that time comes when we are forced to make a change, we will not be ready and the world will be thrown into a wild state of panic. We need to find ways to replace oil or it will develop into a serious issue in the near future.
ReplyDeletehttp://politics.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2008/07/02/new-landings-save-airplane-fuel.html
This is an article that relates to the article that I just responded to. This article is about how an airplane company is starting to use a maneuver called continuous descent. This is when planes land in a direct line instead of gradually. Each landing using the continuous descent system saves about 50 gallons of jet fuel, or about $200 per flight and this would add up to a total savings of about 400 million a year for this one company. Imagine if every company did this! Not only is it cost efficient, but it is energy efficient and eco-friendly too!
This article was awesome, responses were great!!
ReplyDelete