The ‘Greening’ of Aviation

- the final justification for airport expansion -

Deepak Rughani Biofuelwatch

Anti-aviation; concern for our future

Climate change protesters demonstrate against the expansion of London's Heathrow airport. Photograph: Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters

Plane Stupid: Photograph: Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters Boris backs City Airport expanPosted September12th 2008, Richard/5

Plane Stupid: Photograph, Getty

Balance Sheet

-

• GHG emissions & climate change

• Noxious gases• Noise• TPR• Demand

500m in 2030 or 410m flights/year or 360m

+ (?)

• Contribution to GDP

- infrastructure

- travel• Mobility• Jobs

All bases covered?

Damian Carrington New scientist environmental blog

Medical University of South Carolina

Corbis Collection: Imageshop Photo: 52.img.v4.skyrock.com

Two ‘green promises’

1. Fuel efficiency

IATA have created the “Clearer Vision, Clearer Skies” website www.enviro.aero/

Two ‘green promises’

2. Biofuels

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, Sept 2008

EU RED legislation:

Biofuels in aviation fuel counts towards 10% EU renewable energy target in transport fuels

So far, biofuels legitimise…

• Car manufacturers to repeal EU vehicle emission standards from 120g/km to 130g/km

• For DfT to continue road expansion

• Soon…Could biofuels validate airport expansion?

Investment

Vast sums

• Oil• Biotech companies• Airlines • Aircraft manufacturers, • Government agencies (particularly in• Venture capitalists: large sums into research

How? Creative Accounting!

Side-step Direct ecosystem destruction

Ignore Indirect ecosystem destruction

• Palm oil / SE Asian peatlands 840 years

• Soya/Amazon forest: 320 years

• Corn on set-aside: 43 years

Woodlark Island PNG

Joseph Fargione et al

More Creative Accounting!

Underestimate Nitrous Oxide Emissions

Crutzen et al

• Rapeseed biodiesel = 1-1.7 times • Ethanol from sugar beet leaves = 1.5-2.4 times

Include Reduced Land-Use-Change for Co-Products!!

Agricultural spraying. From Colorado State University Environmental Health Advanced Systems Laboratoryhttp://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environment-book/groundwatercontamination.html

Ignore Human Hunger

• 2007: 860m

2009: 1,000m (UN FAO)

• Over 70% of food price inflation is attributable to agrofuels

World Bank, July 08

Try goingwithout foodfor a single day!

Ignore What NGOs & Experts are Saying

• “The world’s 880 million hungry people are fighting a losing battle with the world’s 800 million cars for access to food crops.” Action Aid

• “Biofuels are a crime against humanity”

Jean Ziegler, former special UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Oct 07

• ““From a climate change perspective, current biofuels are worse than fossil fuels”

Joseph Fargione

Ignore Land Expropriation

Military control, Colombia

Expropriation by arson, Paraguay

www.grr.org.ar

Deforestation for oil palms, Colombia

Fires to clear land for palm oil, KalimantanPhoto by Nordin, Save our Borneo

Ignore Ecosystem Loss

Risks of large-scale ecosystem collapse

African Palm in IndonesiaGHGs from deforestation contribute20% global GHG emissions (IPCC AR4) 70,000 fires burn in Amazon,

September 2007. NASA

Tractor runs, refining, transportation,Fertilizers, pesticides etc

Sink release: Forest burning, peat/soil oxidation

- 40% ?GHG reduction

10-fold ? = 1000%carbon increase

Micro- vs. Macro- Life-Cycle Impacts of Agro-Biofuels

Fossil Fuel Diesel & Petroleum

+ 50% / +70%

N2O emissions underestimatedby 50-150%

+

Acceleration of climate feedbacks e.g. dehydration

High Risk of Ecosystem Collapse + +

Ongoing lost capacity tosequester CO2

Biofuel Sources and Test Flights

Coconut & Babassu Oil

February 2008, Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 test flight (Heathrow to Amsterdam) using 5% coconut oil. 150,000 coconuts required

Guardian headline:“Forests Cleared for Takeoff?”

Red Pepper headline:“Virgin on Disaster”

Virgin Atlantic

Air New Zealand, Continental, Japan Airlines

www.outlookseries.com/news/Science/3686.htm

Jatropha caucus

…have all conducted trials, with Jatropha a popular feedstock

Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls Royce and UOP

• Over the Christmas Break Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls Royce and UOP conducted a test flight where one engine on a Boeing 747-400 ran on a 50:50 blend of Jatropha and Jet Fuel.

Continental Airlines

• On 7th Jan 09 Continental Airlines did a test flight with a plane using, in one of the plane’s two engines, biofuel fuel derived from algae and jatropha plants

• JetBlue Airways is preparing for an Airbus A320-200 trial by spring 2010. Feedstocks being considered for the trial include jatropha, algae, and waste forest residues.

• Most research into algae involves genetically engineering new species using synthetic biology

Military

L-29 military aircraft, Czechoslovakia

Aero L-29 Delfín Military training

50% fuel for lower 48 US

states from domestic ‘non oil

sources’ by 2016

Alternatives to Kerosene

1. Fischer Tropsch gas & coal gasification > syngas > aviation fuel

(2008, Sasoil had coal-to-liquids fuel certified for aviation)

2 Fischer Tropsch biomass gasification > syngas > aviation fuel

3 Now pyrolysis of biomass > bio-oil and syngas >

(+ biochar/charcoal)

> Fischer Tropsch > aviation fuel

The Energy Bloghttp://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/12/arizona_public_.html

Algal Bioreactors

Knolhttp://knol.google.com/k/partha-das-sharma/biofuel-from-algae/oml631csgjs7/12#Knol

Biofuels get Political Endorsement…

• Geoff Hoon

“One of the big challenges that many of you are embracing is to make commercial aviation biofuels a reality within five years and a major fuel source by 2050.”

Hey Presto!

• Lord Turner said that biofuels could allow UK climate targets to be met even if aviation expansion, including a Heathrow Third Runway, went ahead.

Job done!

Anti-Biofuel Protests…

Anti-Agrofuels: concern for our future