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Major airlines agree to promote biofuels in aviation
Major commercial airlines are promoting the use of biofuels in aviation by establishing the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group. The organisation will call for airlines to voluntarily adopt biofuel targets and fund research into producing jet fuel from non-food sources, such as wood waste, algae or the energy crop jatropha.
Participating airlines include Air France, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Cargolux, Gulf Air, Japan Airlines, KLM, SAS and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Aerospace manufacturer Boeing and Honeywell subsidiary UOP are also joining the group, which is supported by environmental bodies the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The aviation sector accounts for around 3% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. But there is at present less incentive to produce biofuel for planes than for cars. This is partly because the specifications for jet fuels are extremely stringent. Aviation industry bodies have also tended not to support biofuels. The Air Transport Association opposes the European Union’s plans to include aviation emissions in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
Earlier this month, algae oil firm Solazyme announced its algae-derived jet fuel had passed several key specifications for aviation fuel as set by the American Society for Testing and Materials. The firm says it hopes to reduce costs to between USD40 and USD80 per barrel in two to three years.
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