1 Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show
Darrell Angles edited this page 2025-01-11 23:20:24 +01:00


By Allison Lampert

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

Fuel manufacturers and jetmakers are eager to showcase novel kinds of aviation fuel deemed less harmful to the climate, from utilized cooking oil to the definitely less glamorous meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airlines, have actually bowed to environmental pressure on aviation and devoted to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that adopting renewable fuel to suppress emissions might make company jets more appealing to environmentally mindful purchasers - especially corporations facing concerns over sustainability from investors or green project groups.

The accessibility of less contaminating private jets could also spare the rich and popular the unfavorable promotion experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his partner Meghan over a recent jet journey to southern France.

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

The most current waste-based fuels consist of "fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food market," stated Bryan Sherbacow, chief business officer of Boston-based biofuel producer 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 expected to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other eco-friendly fuel mixes anticipated to be pumped at the show.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets represent less than 0.1% of overall annual carbon emissions worldwide, but can produce, typically, up to 20 times more carbon emissions per traveler mile than jetliners, according to the London-based private charter firm Victor.

Prince Harry has actually protected his occasional use of personal jets to ensure his household's security, and has actually said that on the rare events he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state incidents such as the furore over his itinerary have added fresh difficulties for a market already striving to validate its contribution to cutting business expenses.

"Incidents of flight shaming involving using personal jets are regrettable when you consider that our industry has delivered fuel efficiency improvements of 40% over the previous 40 years," stated Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel usage will assist the market make inroads with corporations and rich buyers. According to industry data, billionaires only have a 19% service jet ownership rate.

But even an image transformation - with jets sporting stickers like "this airplane flies on eco-friendly fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for going to aircrafts - is not likely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.

Environmentalists and some analysts stay doubtful that biojetfuels, typically combined 50-50 with kerosene, will make a substantial influence on public perceptions about luxury travel.

"No quantity of jatropha curcas or Brazil-nut fuel can make service jets look eco-friendly," stated aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from business jet operators for eco-friendly fuels now far surpasses supply and their interest might drive future production, Sherbacow said.

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

Corporate charter business and consultants are also seeing more interest from consumers who wish to purchase carbon credits to offset emissions from their flights.

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

"At the end of the day, I believe that cost, expense per hour, range, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) driver. But I believe people are becoming more conscious of the sustainability of operations and how it affects the planet." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)