1 Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

Lorene Pendleton edited this page 2025-01-12 07:38:41 +02:00

By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's most significant industry program in Las Vegas luxury jets are drawing buyers with their smooth silhouettes, luxurious cabins - and progressively, their usage of alternative fuels.

Fuel producers and jetmakers are keen to display unique types of air travel fuel deemed less hazardous to the environment, from used cooking oil to the distinctly less attractive meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airlines, have acquiesced environmental pressure on air travel and devoted to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that adopting renewable fuel to curb emissions might make service jets more attractive to environmentally conscious purchasers - especially corporations dealing with questions over sustainability from investors or green campaign groups.

The schedule of less contaminating private jets could also spare the rich and well-known the negative publicity experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his partner Meghan over a recent personal jet journey to southern France.

Five Gulfstream jets on screen in Las Vegas are using California-produced fuel from inedible beef tallow.

The most recent waste-based fuels consist of "fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food industry," said Bryan Sherbacow, primary industrial officer of Boston-based biofuel manufacturer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste utilized by Gulfstream.

"All of our item is inedible."

Some of the other 79 aircraft on screen are anticipated to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other renewable fuel mixes anticipated to be pumped at the show.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets account for less than 0.1% of overall annual carbon emissions internationally, however can produce, on average, as much as 20 times more carbon emissions per passenger mile than jetliners, according to the London-based personal charter company Victor.

Prince Harry has actually safeguarded his occasional usage of personal jets to ensure his household's safety, and has said that on the uncommon events he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state events such as the furore over his travel plan have actually included fresh difficulties for a market currently making every effort to validate its contribution to cutting corporate costs.

"Incidents of flight shaming including the usage of personal jets are regrettable when you think about that our industry has actually delivered fuel performance improvements of 40% over the previous 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier believes increased sustainable fuel use will help the industry make inroads with corporations and wealthy purchasers. According to industry information, billionaires only have a 19% organization jet ownership rate.

But even an image transformation - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this aircraft flies on sustainable fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for checking out planes - is unlikely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.

Environmentalists and some experts stay skeptical that biojetfuels, typically blended 50-50 with kerosene, will make a substantial effect on public perceptions about .

"No amount of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make organization jets look eco-friendly," said air travel analyst Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from business jet operators for renewable fuels now far exceeds supply and their interest could drive future production, Sherbacow said.

World Energy, which produces 40 million gallons of biofuel at its California plant, could broaden production approximately 150 million gallons by 2022.

Corporate charter companies and specialists are likewise seeing more interest from clients who desire to purchase carbon credits to offset emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, said emissions played a function in a corporate jet usage research study his company just recently completed for a Fortune 500 business.

"At the end of the day, I think that cost, expense per hour, variety, speed and efficiency, that's still the (sales) motorist. But I think people are becoming more knowledgeable about the sustainability of operations and how it affects the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)