The ‘Greening’ of Aviation - the final justification for airport expansion -
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Transcript of The ‘Greening’ of Aviation - the final justification for airport expansion -
The ‘Greening’ of Aviation
- the final justification for airport expansion -
Deepak Rughani Biofuelwatch
Anti-aviation; concern for our future
Climate change protesters demonstrate against the expansion of London's Heathrow airport. Photograph: Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters
Plane Stupid: Photograph: Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters Boris backs City Airport expanPosted September12th 2008, Richard/5
Plane Stupid: Photograph, Getty
Balance Sheet
-
• GHG emissions & climate change
• Noxious gases• Noise• TPR• Demand
500m in 2030 or 410m flights/year or 360m
+ (?)
• Contribution to GDP
- infrastructure
- travel• Mobility• Jobs
All bases covered?
Damian Carrington New scientist environmental blog
Medical University of South Carolina
Corbis Collection: Imageshop Photo: 52.img.v4.skyrock.com
Two ‘green promises’
1. Fuel efficiency
IATA have created the “Clearer Vision, Clearer Skies” website www.enviro.aero/
Two ‘green promises’
2. Biofuels
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, Sept 2008
EU RED legislation:
Biofuels in aviation fuel counts towards 10% EU renewable energy target in transport fuels
So far, biofuels legitimise…
• Car manufacturers to repeal EU vehicle emission standards from 120g/km to 130g/km
• For DfT to continue road expansion
• Soon…Could biofuels validate airport expansion?
Investment
Vast sums
• Oil• Biotech companies• Airlines • Aircraft manufacturers, • Government agencies (particularly in• Venture capitalists: large sums into research
How? Creative Accounting!
Side-step Direct ecosystem destruction
Ignore Indirect ecosystem destruction
• Palm oil / SE Asian peatlands 840 years
• Soya/Amazon forest: 320 years
• Corn on set-aside: 43 years
Woodlark Island PNG
Joseph Fargione et al
More Creative Accounting!
Underestimate Nitrous Oxide Emissions
Crutzen et al
• Rapeseed biodiesel = 1-1.7 times • Ethanol from sugar beet leaves = 1.5-2.4 times
Include Reduced Land-Use-Change for Co-Products!!
Agricultural spraying. From Colorado State University Environmental Health Advanced Systems Laboratoryhttp://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environment-book/groundwatercontamination.html
Ignore Human Hunger
• 2007: 860m
2009: 1,000m (UN FAO)
• Over 70% of food price inflation is attributable to agrofuels
World Bank, July 08
Try goingwithout foodfor a single day!
Ignore What NGOs & Experts are Saying
• “The world’s 880 million hungry people are fighting a losing battle with the world’s 800 million cars for access to food crops.” Action Aid
• “Biofuels are a crime against humanity”
Jean Ziegler, former special UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Oct 07
• ““From a climate change perspective, current biofuels are worse than fossil fuels”
Joseph Fargione
Ignore Land Expropriation
Military control, Colombia
Expropriation by arson, Paraguay
www.grr.org.ar
Deforestation for oil palms, Colombia
Fires to clear land for palm oil, KalimantanPhoto by Nordin, Save our Borneo
Ignore Ecosystem Loss
Risks of large-scale ecosystem collapse
African Palm in IndonesiaGHGs from deforestation contribute20% global GHG emissions (IPCC AR4) 70,000 fires burn in Amazon,
September 2007. NASA
Tractor runs, refining, transportation,Fertilizers, pesticides etc
Sink release: Forest burning, peat/soil oxidation
- 40% ?GHG reduction
10-fold ? = 1000%carbon increase
Micro- vs. Macro- Life-Cycle Impacts of Agro-Biofuels
Fossil Fuel Diesel & Petroleum
+ 50% / +70%
N2O emissions underestimatedby 50-150%
+
Acceleration of climate feedbacks e.g. dehydration
High Risk of Ecosystem Collapse + +
Ongoing lost capacity tosequester CO2
Biofuel Sources and Test Flights
Coconut & Babassu Oil
February 2008, Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 test flight (Heathrow to Amsterdam) using 5% coconut oil. 150,000 coconuts required
Guardian headline:“Forests Cleared for Takeoff?”
Red Pepper headline:“Virgin on Disaster”
Virgin Atlantic
Air New Zealand, Continental, Japan Airlines
www.outlookseries.com/news/Science/3686.htm
Jatropha caucus
…have all conducted trials, with Jatropha a popular feedstock
Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls Royce and UOP
• Over the Christmas Break Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls Royce and UOP conducted a test flight where one engine on a Boeing 747-400 ran on a 50:50 blend of Jatropha and Jet Fuel.
Continental Airlines
• On 7th Jan 09 Continental Airlines did a test flight with a plane using, in one of the plane’s two engines, biofuel fuel derived from algae and jatropha plants
• JetBlue Airways is preparing for an Airbus A320-200 trial by spring 2010. Feedstocks being considered for the trial include jatropha, algae, and waste forest residues.
• Most research into algae involves genetically engineering new species using synthetic biology
Military
L-29 military aircraft, Czechoslovakia
Aero L-29 Delfín Military training
50% fuel for lower 48 US
states from domestic ‘non oil
sources’ by 2016
Alternatives to Kerosene
1. Fischer Tropsch gas & coal gasification > syngas > aviation fuel
(2008, Sasoil had coal-to-liquids fuel certified for aviation)
2 Fischer Tropsch biomass gasification > syngas > aviation fuel
3 Now pyrolysis of biomass > bio-oil and syngas >
(+ biochar/charcoal)
> Fischer Tropsch > aviation fuel
The Energy Bloghttp://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/12/arizona_public_.html
Algal Bioreactors
Knolhttp://knol.google.com/k/partha-das-sharma/biofuel-from-algae/oml631csgjs7/12#Knol
Biofuels get Political Endorsement…
• Geoff Hoon
“One of the big challenges that many of you are embracing is to make commercial aviation biofuels a reality within five years and a major fuel source by 2050.”
Hey Presto!
• Lord Turner said that biofuels could allow UK climate targets to be met even if aviation expansion, including a Heathrow Third Runway, went ahead.
Job done!
Anti-Biofuel Protests…
Anti-Agrofuels: concern for our future