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Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

Ezequiel Fikes edited this page 2025-01-11 14:15:54 +00:00

By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's biggest market show in Las Vegas luxury jets are tempting buyers with their streamlined shapes, plush cabins - and significantly, their usage of alternative fuels.

Fuel manufacturers and jetmakers are eager to display unique kinds of air travel fuel considered less damaging to the environment, from utilized cooking oil to the clearly less glamorous meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have bowed to ecological pressure on aviation and devoted to cutting in half carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005.

Their hope is that adopting renewable fuel to curb emissions might make business jets more attractive to environmentally mindful purchasers - specifically corporations facing questions over sustainability from shareholders or green campaign groups.

The availability of less contaminating personal jets might likewise spare the abundant and well-known the negative promotion experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his better half Meghan over a recent private jet trip to southern France.

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

The current waste-based fuels consist of "fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food market," said Bryan Sherbacow, primary business 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 airplane on display screen are anticipated 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 yearly carbon emissions internationally, however can emit, typically, as much as 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 periodic use of private jets to guarantee his family's safety, and has actually stated that on the rare events he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state occurrences such as the furore over his schedule have included fresh obstacles for a market already making every effort to justify its contribution to cutting corporate costs.

"Incidents of flight shaming including the use of private jets are unfortunate when you consider that our industry has delivered fuel performance improvements of 40% over the past 40 years," stated Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

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

But even an image transformation - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this aircraft flies on sustainable fuels" and organisers including alternative fuel pumps for visiting aircrafts - is not likely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet event.

Environmentalists and some experts remain skeptical that biojetfuels, normally combined 50-50 with kerosene, will make a significant influence on public perceptions about high-end travel.

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

Demand from company jet operators for sustainable fuels now far exceeds 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 approximately 150 million gallons by 2022.

Corporate charter companies and consultants are likewise seeing more interest from consumers who wish to buy carbon credits to offset emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions played a function in a corporate jet utilization research study his company just recently finished for a Fortune 500 business.

"At the end of the day, I think that price, cost per hour, variety, speed and efficiency, that's still the (sales) driver. But I believe individuals are ending up being more conscious of the sustainability of operations and how it affects the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)