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Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

Stormy Spowers edited this page 2025-01-12 19:15:17 +08:00

By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's most significant market program in Las Vegas high-end jets are enticing purchasers with their smooth silhouettes, luxurious cabins - and increasingly, their usage of alternative fuels.

Fuel producers and jetmakers are eager to display unique kinds of air travel fuel deemed less harmful to the environment, from used cooking oil to the clearly less glamorous meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have actually bowed to environmental pressure on air travel and devoted to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that adopting eco-friendly fuel to suppress emissions might make business jets more appealing to ecologically mindful buyers - particularly corporations facing questions over sustainability from shareholders or green campaign groups.

The schedule of less polluting personal jets might also spare the abundant and popular the negative publicity experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his spouse Meghan over a recent private jet journey to southern France.

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

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

"All of our product is inedible."

Some of the other 79 airplane on display are anticipated to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other sustainable fuel blends anticipated to be pumped at the program.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets represent less than 0.1% of total annual carbon emissions worldwide, but can emit, on average, up to 20 times more carbon emissions per passenger mile than jetliners, according to the London-based personal charter firm Victor.

Prince Harry has protected his periodic usage of personal jets to guarantee his household's safety, and has stated that on the unusual occasions 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 challenges for an industry already making every effort to justify its contribution to cutting corporate expenses.

"Incidents of flight shaming including making use of private jets are regrettable when you consider that our market has actually delivered fuel performance enhancements 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 rich purchasers. According to industry information, billionaires just have a 19% organization jet ownership rate.

But even an image transformation - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this airplane flies on renewable fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for visiting airplanes - is not likely to please all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet event.

Environmentalists and some experts remain doubtful that biojetfuels, usually blended 50-50 with kerosene, will make a considerable effect on public understandings about luxury travel.

"No quantity of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make business jets look eco-friendly," stated air travel analyst Richard Aboulafia.

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

World Energy, which produces 40 million gallons of biofuel at its California plant, might expand production up to 150 million gallons by 2022.

Corporate charter business and consultants are likewise seeing more interest from customers who wish to buy carbon credits to balance out emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, said emissions contributed in a business jet utilization study his business recently completed for a Fortune 500 business.

"At the end of the day, I believe that price, cost per hour, range, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) driver. But I think individuals are ending up being more aware of the sustainability of operations and how it affects the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)