1 Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show
Cliff Ashworth edited this page 2025-01-12 17:45:07 +08:00


By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's greatest market program in Las Vegas luxury jets are enticing buyers with their sleek silhouettes, luxurious cabins - and increasingly, their usage of alternative fuels.

Fuel producers and jetmakers are eager to display unique forms of air travel fuel considered less harmful to the climate, from utilized cooking oil to the clearly less attractive meat waste.

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

Their hope is that adopting sustainable fuel to suppress emissions could make jets more attractive to environmentally mindful buyers - especially corporations facing concerns over sustainability from investors or green project groups.

The accessibility of less contaminating private jets might likewise spare the abundant and well-known the unfavorable promotion experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his spouse Meghan over a current private jet journey to southern France.

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

The newest waste-based fuels include "fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food market," said Bryan Sherbacow, primary commercial officer of Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste used by Gulfstream.

"All of our product is inedible."

A few of the other 79 aircraft on display screen are expected 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 total yearly carbon emissions globally, however can produce, on average, approximately 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 guarantee his family's safety, and has said that on the unusual occasions he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers say incidents such as the furore over his itinerary have included fresh challenges for a market already striving to justify its contribution to cutting corporate costs.

"Incidents of flight shaming including the usage of private jets are unfortunate when you consider that our industry has actually delivered fuel performance enhancements of 40% over the previous 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel use will help the market make inroads with corporations and wealthy purchasers. According to market information, billionaires just have a 19% business jet ownership rate.

But even an image remodeling - with jets sporting stickers like "this airplane flies on renewable fuels" and organisers including alternative fuel pumps for going to planes - is unlikely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.

Environmentalists and some analysts stay hesitant that biojetfuels, usually mixed 50-50 with kerosene, will make a considerable influence on public perceptions about high-end travel.

"No amount of jatropha curcas or Brazil-nut fuel can make company jets look eco-friendly," said aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia.

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

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 companies and specialists are also seeing more interest from customers who want to buy carbon credits to offset emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions contributed 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, range, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) motorist. But I think people are becoming more aware of the sustainability of operations and how it affects the planet." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)