Today, Virgin Atlantic successfully carried out the first ever commercial aircraft flight (London to Amsterdam) using biofuels.
As noted earlier in previous posts, this great and grand experiment is not without controversy: there's been a lot of news lately about the environmental benefits of biofuels, and Boeing (with whom Virgin partnered on this historic flight) recently admitted that the biofuels used in this flight were 1st generation biofuels (those made from food crops and generally compete for food and land resources).
Nevertheless, this flight has not only proven that it is feasible for commercial airlines to fly on biofuels, but hopefully will also catalyze the industry into continuing their research and quest for alternative fuels to reduce carbon emissions.
Archive for February, 2008
Today, Virgin Atlantic successfully carried out the first ever commercial aircraft flight (London to Amsterdam) using biofuels.
As noted earlier in previous posts, this great and grand experiment is not without controversy: there's been a lot of news lately about the environmental benefits of biofuels, and Boeing (with whom Virgin partnered on this historic flight) recently admitted that the biofuels used in this flight were 1st generation biofuels (those made from food crops and generally compete for food and land resources).
Nevertheless, this flight has not only proven that it is feasible for commercial airlines to fly on biofuels, but hopefully will also catalyze the industry into continuing their research and quest for alternative fuels to reduce carbon emissions.
Did you hear the one where GM Chairman Bob Lutz said that global warming is a "total crock of shit?" Then he goes, "I'm a skeptic, not a denier. Having said that, my opinion doesn't matter." He wraps up his funny joke by saying, "I'm motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2."
Haha! That would be a funny one, if it was a joke. Unfortunately, it's actually what he actually said recently at a private lunch the other day, according to D Magazine. Here one of the top guys at GM, and one of the most respected people in Detroit, a guy who gets to green-light cars and set strategy, and he's denying global warming on one hand, and then saying that what he thinks doesn't matter. Hmmm.
It occurs to me that if GM had been investing more in clean technologies like Toyota's been doing for all these years, instead of pumping out Hummers, Suburbans and Escalades while sending lobbyists to Washington to claim that higher fuel efficiency standards would bankrupt Detroit, maybe they wouldn't be in the mess they're in today.
And they are in a mess. The economy of Michigan is really struggling, they've been losing market share for years, and they have hemorrhaged money for much of this decade. I know GM is doing a great job in some respects these days, (hey that Cadillac CTS is hot!) but look what their denial of reality has wrought them. It's time to get rid of the dinosaurs, and embrace reality GM!
Earlier this month, I blogged about Virgin Atlantic's plans to test a commercial flight (on a Boeing 747) using biofuels.
Virgin, up until recently, had not disclosed the type of biofuel it would use, only saying that it would be a sustainable type of biofuel (i.e., does not compete with fresh water or food resources). However, Boeing has recently admitted that it will be using what is called a "first generation biofuel", rather than a "second generation biofuel."*
While this isn't great news, I'm still hopeful that Virgin and other airlines will press forward in looking for new and alternative solutions to jet fuel.
* In very simplistic terms, a first generation biofuel is one which that is made from food crops, and generally competes for land or water use. Second generation biofuels are generally more preferred, as they are made from non-food feedstocks, such as waste from agriculture and forestry.
When I first started my job at my current employer, one of the first things I noticed was the huge amounts of paper that were wasted on a daily basis, due to our company's undying love of printing documents. Not only do we love to print, but we print copious amounts of one sided copies... in color. (shudder, shudder)
Well, now we're jumping on the green bandwagon (it's about time) and are currently piloting a "printer test program," for lack of a better phrase. This pilot is being tested in only one building for now... but based on the success so far, it's likely this will be rolled out more broadly.
Here's what we did: we reduced the number of printers in one of our buildings from 40+ local, network printers to only three multi-functional devices (one of those gigantic machines that prints, scans & faxes). If you dare to print, your copies are automatically defaulted to black & white, and... prints double-sided copies!
As a result, we have saved an average of 738 sheets of paper per day. If you extrapolate to one year at this rate, we'll save over 180,000 sheets or 37 cases of paper this year.
If we roll this pilot out to all of our buildings, we will save 1.6M sheets or 320 cases of paper annually.
Not bad!
For the last couple of years, there has been a stretch of at least a few days where it becomes unseasonably and uncomfortably hot - to the point that it reaches 90+ degrees F in my home. I've been toying with the idea of installing an air conditioning unit but laziness and frugality have prevented me from doing so. (I was quoted $10K to have one installed! Me says, no thank you.)
Fortunately, I have Old Faithful - my trusty ceiling fan, which helps me get through the nights when it's so disgustingly hot I can barely move. As it turns out, ceiling fans are great - they consume 98% less energy than central air conditioners... and are much cheaper to install! So if you are in a similar predicament, consider the sometimes overlooked ceiling fan. Your wallet and your environment will thank you.