Manufacturers 'go green' at Farnborough

Some of the major manufacturers of commercial aircraft have been showing off their green credentials at the Farnborough International Airshow.

The Seattle Times reports that US giant Boeing hosted a dedicated environmental exhibition at the show featuring five tanks of liquid in gradually darkening shades of green.

Contained in the tanks was water with algae ranging from 0.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent concentration, from which Boeing intends to extract plant oil to use for fuel.

Darrin Morgan, business analysis for environmental strategy director at Boeing, indicated that the plant material makes "extremely good jet fuel".

"It grows naturally in an aquatic environment; it doubles in mass every day; it's very plant-oil dense," he added.

The use of algae plant oil for fuel is in the early stages of development, but the operation of other biofuels is at a much more advanced stage.

Virgin Atlantic conducted the first biofuel test flight during February and Air New Zealand will use a blend of oil from jatropha seed pods during services planned later in the year.

Faced with proposed emissions targets in Europe, manufacturers and operators are keen to show green credentials by highlighting the emissions per passenger performance of planes.

Boeing has stressed that the 787 Dreamliner, which is due to have test flights later in the year, boasts strong fuel efficiency performance.

Equally, European giant Airbus has been showing off its environmental initiatives, pointing out that even the colossal A380 offers solid fuel performance.

Airbus has indicated that, despite the superjumbo's size, it actually delivers fuel per passenger results that can rival many hybrid cars.

There is also an economic reason for these initiatives in that burning excessive fuel costs airline operators lots of money.

High jet fuel prices are now prompting major aircraft manufacturers to make fuel economy a top priority when designing new planes.

Airline News posted on 21 July 2008

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