What are we going to do about airplane emissions?
I love to watch the peach and magenta sunsets in the Florida Keys. But more and more the natural beauty is marred by jet trails criss-crossing the sky. I’ve often wondered how much pollution those jets must be adding to the skies, and eventually to the seas. Now we’re beginning to find out, as Britain takes the lead in calling attention to the airlines’ contribution to Global Warming.

If you should fly from Bangkok to London, your individual share of your plane’s greenhouse gas emissions would be 2.1 metric tons, according to one greenhouse-gas offset company, 3.6 tons according to another and 6.9 tons according to a third, says the journal Nature. You can offset those emissions by contributing 30 euros, 86 euros or 139 euros, respectively, to alternative energy projects or tree planting, depending on your preference and which offset company you go with.

Why the big variations for the same flight? It depends in part on whether they’re only counting CO2 or including nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide and/or vapor trails, all of which – at 30,000 feet – have a more complex effect on clouds, ozone and climate than earthbound polluters. Aircraft contributions to Global Warming are complicated and there are still many unknowns.

There seems to be general agreement that airlines now contribute an estimated 3-4% of greenhouse gases. So why should we be concerned?

Rapid growth
The main reason is that airline travel is growing quickly. It threatens to become one of the largest contributors to Global Warming by 2050, British scientists say. The FAA predicts that the number of U.S. airline passengers will double to 1.4 billion by 2025 and that U.S. air traffic of all kinds – including air freight and private jets – will triple. There’s also likely to be significant growth worldwide, with China alone planning 40 new airports. Second, it’s not as easy to wean aircraft off fossil fuels as it is cars and electric power plants, and carbon capture is not an option. And third, if we’re going to have to CUT greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 to avoid a calamity, this segment cannot be ignored.

Alarmed about the future, the European Union is calling for strict controls on emissions from airlines flying within Europe, using a cap-and-trade system, starting in 2011. External airlines landing or taking off from Europe would be included the following year. The U.S. government is adamantly opposed and threatened a lawsuit.

The FAA doesn’t see an immediate threat, an agency representative told USA Today, saying, “Cars and trucks generate 7 times the amount of emissions that aviation produces.” The American Transit Association, representing the carriers, says U.S. airlines have already reduced GHG emissions by improving fuel efficiency 23% since 2000. But those gains don’t offset the increase in travel, scientists say.

The National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which represents pollution control officials in 49 state and 165 metro areas, says jet engines must have stricter emissions standards. They are suing the EPA for its failure to create them.

Several solutions to airplane emissions are being investigated:

Make planes a different shape.
Boeing is about to test a blended-wing design, like the stealth bomber, where passengers would sit in the wings rather than in a center fuselage that is just dead weight. The design will be tested on the military and likely won’t be ready for commercial use for 20 years, which environmentalists say is too late. One problem is that it is hard to keep such planes up in the air and they need a complicated set of computer controls to take that job out of the pilot’s hands.

Create better flight routes.
Use of GPS instead of the old radar system devised in the ‘50s, which has plane zigzagging to their destination rather than plotting the most direct route, could save an estimated 12-15% in fuel. New Zealand is already using new software to accomplish this. Airlines favor this change and are lobbying for it, in order to save money on fuel.

Cut the growth of air travel.
Some European countries are starting to deny airport requests to expand. Business executives, who pay lip service to reducing emissions, are being urged to use trains or small cars for trips that would take an hour or less by plane. And Britain has doubled its flight tax.

Use carbon composites.
Use of this material is already making planes lighter. Up to 50% of Boeing’s next-generation plane, due out in May 2008, is made of carbon-composite materials. And 25% of Airbus’s largest plane, scheduled for delivery in October, is carbon composite.

Look to new fuel and engine technology.
Boeing is studying new fuel-cell technology but that may be 10 years away. The most modern engines in use are emitting less CO2 but more nitrogen oxide, which also causes Global Warming. NASA is developing technology that could allow the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 to use 25% less fuel and reduce nitrogen oxide emissions 80% by 2018.

Redesign airports and/or tow planes to and from gates.
Parking bays closer to runways and towing planes could save fuel use on the ground and is being promoted by Virgin Airline’s Richard Branson. An Illinois inventor, in the ‘80s, came up with an idea to ramp runways down for departing planes and up for arriving planes, reducing taxi time, an idea that is being looked at again.

Invest more in railroads and high-speed trains.
Unfortunately, in the United States, this form of travel has lagged. Since 1982 the government has invested $450 billion in highways, $200 billion in aviation, but only $20 billion in passenger rail, which doesn’t have the lobbying strength of petroleum-based modes of transportation. Yet last year, in the Midwest, train travel hit record numbers. Travel between Milwaukee and Chicago grew 8.2%; Ann Arbor had a 22% growth in Amtrak riders; and increases in service in Illinois resulted in large ridership gains, including a 93% surge this December (compared to last December) between St. Louis and Chicago, according to the Environmental Law and Policy Center, which worked with Illinois government to expand Amtrak in the state.

The U.S. Senate is considering legislation to invest more in Amtrak and high-speed trains. At this point, the Northeast corridor, where there were 25.4 million passengers last year, is the only high-speed route operational in the United States. The Federal Railroad Administration has designated 10 additional corridors with potential for high-speed routes, according to ELPC.

You can help
Senate Bill 294, re-introduced this session by Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.), calls for $11.4 billion over 6 years for necessary improvements to infrastructure and new high-speed corridors. Ask your U.S. senators to co-sponsor this bill at http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/rail_bill_clone/wxb8w8e2f6iw87t.


Congressional round-up

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she expects to pass legislation in the next few months to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy. But a larger Global Warming package, that might include a mandatory cap-and-trade provision, would have to come later in the session. Pelosi originally set a July deadline for climate change legislation, but apparently has been told by key committee chairmen that they don’t yet have support for more stringent laws.

• Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) says there is growing bi-partisan support for a mandated increase in corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for autos and light trucks. Markey’s bill would require a corporate average of 27.5 mpg by 2012 and 35 mpg by 2018, an increase of 4 mpg a year. Markey, chairman of the new House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, says he will push for a vote this year. Similar bills have been defeated in the past in the Energy and Commerce Committee, now chaired by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), a friend of the auto industry who has not to date backed a mandated increase. Markey’s bill has 22 Democrat and 19 Republican co-sponsors.

• Bills have been introduced in both houses to extend energy efficiency tax incentives to 2011 and 2012 for residential and commercial buildings. Included are heating and cooling systems, insulation, windows and doors. Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) sponsored the Senate bill, while Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) introduced the House version.
(Sources: E&E Daily, E&E News PM)


News briefs

1. U.S. emissions to rise 20% by 2020, government report says
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are growing at a steady rate and are predicted to be 20% higher in 2020 than in 2000, under current emissions policy, says a draft of the U.S. Climate Action Report. The report is more than a year overdue to the United Nations. Spokesmen for the Bush Administration pointed out that the growth will be less than the growth of the economy, as the president has pledged. But critics say the increase shows the need for mandatory limits on GHG, something Bush advocated as governor of Texas and when he campaigned for president, but rejects now. (Source: Greenwire)

2. E.U. requires members to cut emissions 20% by 2020
The European Union agreed this month to reduce greenhouse gases 20% from 1990 levels by 2020. The bloc also agreed to generate 20% of its power from renewable sources by the same date. The second vote required a compromise because Poland and the Czech Republic are so reliant on carbon fuels. So E.U. members will get different targets depending on their circumstances. Also, a goal was set to use 10% biofuels for transportation. (Source: Greenwire)

3. Britain drafts strongest law yet, cutting GHG 60% by 2050
Britain has become the first nation to propose binding legislation to enforce a large cut in carbon emissions – 60% by 2050. If approved, it would be the first time a country has set legally binding carbon targets, in which failure to reach those goals would land the government before a judge, who would determine sanctions. The law includes cap-and-trade and requires 5-year carbon budgets planned 15 years ahead. Prime Minister Tony Blair termed this a revolution in how Britons would drive, heat their homes, run their businesses and schedule vacation flights. Concern about Global Warming has made climate change a hot issue in the coming election for prime minister, with each party trying to “out-green” the other. (Source: New York Times)

4. TXU buyers plan two carbon-capture projects
The partners involved in the takeover of TXU Corp. said they will build two integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) demonstration plants that will capture carbon dioxide. The new Texas Energy Future Holdings Limited Partnership said it wants to explore technology to generate cleaner, affordable and reliable power in Texas. Proposals from companies wanting to build the plants will go before TXU’s new Sustainable Energy Advisory Board, which includes members from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense, as well as utility customers, state economic development officials and representatives of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. (Source: E&E News PM)

5. Hybrid sales up 28%, dominated by Toyota Prius
Sales of hybrid cars rose nearly 30% in the U.S. in 2006, but growth is starting to slow. Toyota Prius, the most fuel-efficient of the hybrids, captured almost 43% of the new hybrid sales, as consumers bought over 254,000 hybrid vehicles, according to retail sales data. Federal tax incentives for Toyota hybrids are being phased out because of the high number sold. Toyota will begin its own incentives, such as interest-free loans, and is starting its first advertising campaign for Prius. The company predicts these steps will drive growth of 70% in the coming year. Prius gets about 60 mpg. (Source: Reuters PlanetArk)

6. Small nuclear war could block Global Warming
For those who always like to look at the bright side, a small nuclear war could have a cooling effect on the planet, scientists reported at a recent American Geophysical Society conference. Of course, the problems would outweigh any benefits, they said. Some parts of the planet could become much colder than others, like during the Little Ice Age in the 17th century, when glaciers covered much of Northern Europe. Thick, dark clouds in the upper atmosphere could block the sun’s rays for a decade, which would wreak havoc on agriculture, they said. And then, of course, there would be death and radiation sickness. (Source: Greenwire)

7. International Polar Year starts new research at the poles
Mapping the permafrost thaw, studying marine life, and investigating the health of people, penguins and polar bears will all be part of a massive research project in the Arctic and Antarctic, which kicked off this month. Some 50,000 experts will conduct 228 projects to learn more about how Global Warming is changing the planet. Climate change is most evident at the poles and the Arctic is warming at twice the global average. The research will continue for two years. For more, see IPY’s Web site at www.ipy.org. (Sources: Reuters PlanetArk and Greenwire)


Do something
Nearly 1,000 rallies and events are being scheduled around the country as part of a National Day for Climate Action that kicks off Earth Day on Saturday, April 14. In Chicago, a major rally is scheduled for 12-2 p.m. at the Daley Center, 100 N. Dearborn. Check out www.StepItUp2007.org to learn what’s planned for your area. Get involved. Show your support for reducing emissions 80% by 2050.

If you haven’t done so yet, please send a message to Congress with Al Gore when he testifies before House and Senate committees next week. On Friday he was closing in on 300,000 and hoped to be able to take 350,000 messages with him March 21, to convince the Congress to take strong action now. Sign up at www.algore.com/cards.html