TreeHugger Picks: Airplane Flight Isn't All Bad...
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 10.23.06
Airplane flight has become a very contentious issue as global warming has made more and more headlines; flying creates tremendous amounts of carbon emissions, but it isn't always easy to get from Point A to B without it. Here are our picks for some positive developments in airline flight.
1) TerraPass and Expedia are offering carbon offsets for your flight.
2) Boeing's fuel cell-powered, zero-emission plane is set to take flight within a year.
3) The world's first AA battery-powered plane recently took off for the first time.
4) Sir Richard Branson is working on an alternative super-fuel that he hopes will be viable for planes within five years.
5) Terminal A at Boston's Logan Airport is the first airport to be LEED certified.
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If the Logan A terminal is the first to be LEED certified, that means every other terminal in the US is not LEED certified. Thus that point seems to say that flight *is* all that bad.
Also, TerraPass has received attention because it partnered with Expedia. However, there are many many offset companies that allow you to calculate and purchase carbon offsets for your flight. And most are more exact than Terrapass (see Atmosfair for example).
Why is there no mention of the trends in air travel--passenger miles traveled per year, for example? I think the increasing air travel statistics would help to put these miniscule developments in context.
Also would have liked to see more discussion about taxing jet fuel.
1. you'd need to spend hundreds of dollars a flight to offset your carbon. those programs are a joke. seriously.
2. Boeing's zero-emission project is a *small aircraft*, almost ultralight in nature. it's NOT a passenger liner. they have no plans for those.
3. the AA project--again, no impact on passenger flights.
4. Branson's alternative fuels--yeah, so are two dozen other companies. have been for decades. ain't gonna happen soon.
5. what the heck does a LEED-certified airport have to do with aircraft emissions?
NONE of these are useful.
NONE of these are useful.
Really? So what's your solution?
Joe,
Can you explain what you mean by "hundreds of dollars to offset your carbon"? I know these programs aren't the answer but the ones I've looked into don't charge anywhere near that much.
Thanks,
Matt
As you walk into the departures lounge at Liverpool's John Lennon Airport in the UK, there's a deposit box that invites passengers to donate money to offset their carbon emissions. They figure it to be about 10GBP (about 20US$) for a short haul flight to Europe. I think these should be put in all airports.