United Airlines will launch a new initiative by using biofuels for flights between LA and San Francisco. This fuel has not been used for commercial flights before, and it will be supplied by AltAir Fuels. United are going to purchase 15 million gallons of the fuel over a period of three years. There will be a 30/70 percent mix with biofuel being 30%.
Renewable fuels will use animal or plant matter instead of oil and here the Honeywell UOP technology uses various items including algae and cooking oil. A DARPA grant in 2007 allowed the work to begin and at present, they can produce jet fuel that replaces 50% of petrol commonly used. An up to 80% reduction in greenhouse gas is expected.
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United’s MD Angela Foster-Rice sees this as a long-term investment and will provide clean energy jobs into the bargain. This announcement, however, is that there is controversy surround carbon emissions. Corn-based ethanol is used in gasoline production and the amount needed to meet standards has been increased, and there have been arguments about this subject for some years. Discussions regarding reducing emissions are ongoing.
The aviation industry is at risk of increasing emissions of action is not taken, and planes are not easy to power with electricity, and there are no plans to chance this in the near future. Fulcrum Bioenergy are also involved in trying to get fuel from household waste, and this means 90 million gallons of renewable fuel available to United each year.=
