By Allison Lampert
LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's most significant industry show in Las Vegas high-end jets are drawing buyers with their sleek silhouettes, plush cabins - and significantly, their usage of alternative fuels.
Fuel manufacturers and jetmakers are keen to display unique types of aviation fuel considered less damaging to the environment, from utilized cooking oil to the clearly less attractive meat waste.
Business jet operators, like airline companies, have actually acquiesced environmental pressure on air travel and devoted to cutting in half carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005.
Their hope is that embracing eco-friendly fuel to suppress emissions could make business jets more attractive to environmentally mindful buyers - particularly corporations facing concerns over sustainability from investors or green project groups.
The availability of less polluting personal jets could also spare the abundant and well-known the negative publicity experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his better half Meghan over a current personal jet trip to southern France.
Five Gulfstream jets on display in Las Vegas are using California-produced fuel from inedible beef tallow.
The most recent waste-based fuels consist of "fats, grease and oils that are byproducts of the food market," said Bryan Sherbacow, primary business officer of Boston-based biofuel manufacturer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste used by Gulfstream.
"All of our item is inedible."
A few of the other 79 aircraft 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 account for less than 0.1% of total annual carbon emissions internationally, however can produce, usually, as much as 20 times more carbon emissions per traveler mile than jetliners, according to the London-based private charter company Victor.
Prince Harry has actually defended his occasional use of personal jets to ensure his household's safety, and has 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 travel plan have added fresh obstacles for an industry already striving to validate its contribution to cutting business costs.
"Incidents of flight shaming involving making use of private jets are unfortunate when you think about that our market has actually delivered fuel effectiveness improvements of 40% over the past 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.
Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel use will help the market make inroads with corporations and rich buyers. According to industry information, billionaires only have a 19% service jet ownership rate.
But even an image remodeling - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this airplane flies on renewable fuels" and organisers including alternative fuel pumps for visiting planes - is not likely to please all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.
Environmentalists and some experts remain doubtful that biojetfuels, usually mixed 50-50 with kerosene, will make a substantial influence on public understandings about luxury travel.
"No quantity of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make service jets look eco-friendly," stated air travel analyst Richard Aboulafia.
Demand from operators for eco-friendly 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, could broaden production approximately 150 million gallons by 2022.
Corporate charter business and consultants are likewise seeing more interest from customers who desire 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 corporate jet utilization study his company just recently completed for a Fortune 500 company.
"At the end of the day, I believe that price, expense per hour, range, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) driver. But I believe people are becoming more mindful of the sustainability of operations and how it impacts the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)
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Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show
Gordon Duquette edited this page 2025-01-12 05:54:38 +00:00