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Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

Luke Makutz edited this page 2025-01-12 12:17:54 -06:00

By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's most significant in Las Vegas luxury jets are drawing buyers with their streamlined shapes, plush cabins - and increasingly, their use of alternative fuels.

Fuel manufacturers and jetmakers are keen to display novel kinds of air travel fuel considered less harmful to the environment, from used cooking oil to the definitely less attractive meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have actually bowed to ecological pressure on aviation and committed to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that adopting sustainable fuel to suppress emissions might make organization jets more attractive to environmentally mindful buyers - especially corporations dealing with questions over sustainability from shareholders or green campaign groups.

The accessibility of less polluting personal jets could also spare the abundant and well-known the negative publicity experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his other half Meghan over a current private jet journey to southern France.

Five Gulfstream jets on screen 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," stated Bryan Sherbacow, primary commercial officer of Boston-based biofuel manufacturer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste utilized by Gulfstream.

"All of our product is inedible."

A few of the other 79 aircraft on screen are anticipated to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other renewable fuel blends anticipated to be pumped at the show.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets represent less than 0.1% of total annual carbon emissions worldwide, however can discharge, 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 protected his periodic use of personal jets to ensure his household's safety, and has said that on the rare celebrations he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state events such as the furore over his itinerary have included fresh difficulties for an industry currently aiming to justify its contribution to cutting business costs.

"Incidents of flight shaming involving the use of personal jets are unfortunate when you think about that our industry has actually delivered fuel performance enhancements of 40% over the previous 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier believes increased sustainable fuel usage will help the industry make inroads with corporations and rich purchasers. According to market information, billionaires just have a 19% service jet ownership rate.

But even an image remodeling - with jets sporting stickers like "this aircraft flies on eco-friendly fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for checking out aircrafts - is unlikely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 luxury jet event.

Environmentalists and some experts remain skeptical that biojetfuels, typically blended 50-50 with kerosene, will make a significant influence on public perceptions about luxury travel.

"No amount of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make service jets look eco-friendly," said air travel analyst Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from organization jet operators for eco-friendly fuels now far goes beyond supply and their interest might 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 business and consultants are likewise 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 business jet usage research study his company just recently completed for a Fortune 500 business.

"At the end of the day, I believe that cost, cost per hour, range, speed and efficiency, that's still the (sales) chauffeur. But I think people are ending up being more knowledgeable about the sustainability of operations and how it impacts the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)