Image via: HeadovMetal on Flickr.com
We're not sure how to say this, politely, erm, before you board, can you please remove your shoes, empty your water bottles, and well, your bladders too. Whew, that wasn't so bad. Now, if you fly Japan's
Nippon Airlines in the month of October, you just might hear those words too as the airline tries out its own
experiment to lighten its passengers and thus it's load, reports the
Environmental Leader....
Photo: Michael Graham Richard
Cutting Fuel Use and Noise for Planes on the Ground
A coalition of companies with interests in the aviation sector (including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow Airport, etc) have published a document called "New airport departures code to cut noise & emissions plus improve local air quality". As the name states, the goal is to reduce noise and emissions at and around airports. The beauty is that it doesn't require expensive changes like buying new planes or building new structures. It's rather all about using what we already have in a smarter way....
Your teeth are only as strong as glass, but they can withstand years of you crunching on granola bars. How is this? The key is that teeth form microscopic cracks jig-jagged in shape, instead of big ones, in order to alleviate sudden impact and stress on your teeth.
It is these micro-cracks in teeth, say Tel Aviv University researchers in a new study, first to describe how the phenomenon works, that can be used in
biomimicry for creating lighter and safer airplanes. ...
Due to a fluke opportunity, I am flying in first class for my first (and probably last) time ever. I decided before the flight that I will accept the royal treatment and that I will not let the guilt creep in just because those people behind me are sitting in cramped seats without hot towel service or a complimentary open bar. Thankfully there is a curtain between us.
Then the dinner arrives. No need for guilt here. Besides the fact that the meal is not your average plane fare, neither is the waste. In fact, there is
not one disposable item, other than the little package that the salad dressing came in....
New York Times, from an earlier proposal for standup flying
Three years ago we wrote about the Airbus proposal (quickly denied) for standing-room seating (
Now We Know Why They are Called Airbuses) noting that there might be TreeHugger benefits:
We suppose there could be a TreeHugger case that more people crammed in means less fuel burned per person, and we also suspect that it will end deep vein thrombosis, but generally we think it gives new meaning to Flying is Dying.
Now the idea is back.
...
Image via: Pet Airways
Thanks to the gang over at
Daily Candy for this little tip. For just USD$149 each way (starting price), you can ship Fido, Fluffy and all of your four-legged family members around the US on the newly minted
Pet Airways. ...
Data on biofuel test flights than took place nearly six months ago (
Continental Airlines' flight took place in January and
JAL's a bit more recently) is
resurfacing at the Paris Air Show.
The gist of it is something that has been repeatedly highlighted in the intervening months, that biofuels perform as well or slightly better than fossil fuels in jet engines, with Continental saying that their biofuel blend
increased fuel efficiency by 1.1%. But that doesn't mean that we're really much closer to wide-scale use.
Writing in
Yale Environment 360, David Biello really sums up well the nut that's got to be cracked:...
Photo: SkySpark
New Speed Record for an Electric Airplane, That Is...
Flying is
currently the fastest-growing source of CO2, and is expected to keep growing rapidly in the next 20 years. We're still at the early stage of finding greener alternatives to our current planes (other than not flying and ground transportation), but each new milestone is important. One of those was the new electric flight speed record set by the SkySpark 100% electric plane. More details and videos of the flight below....
Photo: Flickr, CC
Hold On, Don't Order These Airline Tickets Yet!
This is part 3 of a series. In part 1, we looked at how
not all flights were created equal, and in part 2 we looked at the
top 20 most popular flying routes based on data from the
TRX Carbon calculator. But any discussion of flying wouldn't be complete without at least an overview of alternatives to flying, because whatever you do to optimize your flying habits, best is still to avoid flying in the first place. Read on for some tips!...
Photo: Flickr, CC
Same Flight, 450% Difference in CO2 Emissions Between Airlines...
According to 700-page Stern Report on the economics of climate change, CO2 emissions from aviation are about 600-700 megatonnes per year, or about 2-3% of total global CO2 emissions. The single digit percentage might not seem like much, but there are aggravating factors: Aviation is currently the fastest-growing source of CO2, and is expected to keep growing rapidly in the next 20 years. Also, those emissions are not spread evenly across world population. For some people, flying might represent a
huge portion of their individual carbon footprint (do you recognize yourself?), and so any improvement can have a big impact. Get ready to green your flying: Let's look at what makes a difference!...
Image credit: Jstockard
Aircraft 'Waggle Effect' Can Reduce Fuel Consumption 20%
Everybody knows that flying is an energy intensive activity. Unfortunately, many long awaited
innovations in fuel-efficient aviation are of the more far-fetched variety - I'm thinking
airships,
blended wings etc. Yet it's long been noted that the addition of 'winglets' to aircraft wings can reduce fuel consumption - in fact, Southwest Airline's use of winglets even earned them a nomination from one of our readers for our
Unexpected Green competition. But that's not the only simple improvement that could cut fuel use - now a team from the University of Warwick in the UK claims that 'waggling' air accross aircraft wings could cut skin friction drag by 40%, offering a 20% savings in fuel consumption and emissions. Read on for more details.
...
photo: Ann the Doc via flickr.
You want to be a better eco-citizen,
minimize your air travel, and want to buy a
carbon offset for those times when you do have to fly. But before you hit that calculate my emissions button you notice a small check box."Include Radiative Forcing" it says. What the heck is
radiative forcing and why does it matter to the carbon emissions of my travel? And if it does, how much does (or should) it add? Here's the quick(ish) answer:...
Airspace
I am a big fan of propeller planes; the Bombardier Q400 sips fuel and flies low enough that its exhaust is not as harmful as the jets flying twice as high. In an earlier post (
Perhaps Flying Turboprop isn't Dying) I noted that it is far more fuel efficient per person than a car and only slightly worse than a train. As I prepare to bike down to the airport and fly to New York on one, I have been considering the news coverage about the investigation into the crash of a Q400 near Buffalo in February. I like to call it a greener way to fly, but apparently the working conditions and pay make it anything but....
The Guardian
We have accused Virgin Galactic's new spaceport of the
Sin of LEED Green Buildings That Are Laughably Inappropriate, asking "what is the point of being ""both sustainable and sensitive to its surroundings" when your purpose for being is neither?"
Now Leo Hickman in the Guardian calls them out for the ride itself. He questions their claims that "every astronaut is an environmentalist," that "viewing earth from space would transform people's attitudes to the environment."
Hickman suggests that they watch a David Attenborough documentary, or perhaps the Discovery Network, instead.
...
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the
if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 11.11.09
photo: 
photo: 
Image credit: 
Photo: Financial Times, Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
If You're Going to Fly, At Least Do it Right
The 
He Opens the Cockpit and Everything
We've written a few times about the 
Image credit: 
