Kip Powick Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Flight of the world's first biofuel jumbo jet Reuters February 24, 2008 at 9:59 AM EST LONDON — Nuts picked from Amazon rain forests helped fuel the world's first commercial airline flight partly powered by renewable energy on Sunday. A Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet flew from London to Amsterdam with one of its fuel tanks filled with a bio-jet blend including babassu oil and coconut oil. A Virgin Atlantic statement said the biofuel mix provided 25 per cent of the fuel for the test flight. The biofuels blend on the Virgin flight contained 20 per cent neat biofuel and 80 per cent conventional jet fuel. Virgin founder Richard Branson said tests had shown it was possible to fly with a 40 per cent blend. "Today marks a vital breakthrough for the whole airline industry," Mr. Branson told reporters in a hangar at Heathrow airport prior to the flight's departure. Environmental lobby group Friends of the Earth said biofuels were a distraction in the fight to cut carbon dioxide emissions, and that related carbon savings would be negated by increased airline travel. British billionaire Mr. Branson said it was unlikely the nut of the wild growing babassu palm would play a key role as airlines turn to renewable fuel sources to cut the industry's greenhouse gas emissions. "We did not want to use biofuels such as corn oil which were competing with staple food sources," he said, adding he believed algae produced in places like sewage treatment farms were the most likely future source of renewable fuel for the airline industry. Biofuels, which are currently mainly produced from crops such as grain, vegetable oils and sugar, are seen by advocates as a way to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. There has been concern, however, that an expansion in the area of crops grown for energy has helped drive up food prices, and some scientists have questioned the environmental benefits of so-called first generation biofuels. Friends of the Earth said in a statement: "There is mounting evidence the carbon savings from these crop-based fuels will be small at best." "Even if every plane leaving the UK was able to run on biofuels from tomorrow, any carbon savings would be wiped out in less than 10 years by the rapid growth of the aviation industry." Many scientists believe so-called second generation biofuels, which could be made from products such as municipal waste, will provide more substantial environmental benefits without competing with food crops for land. Mr. Branson, whose Virgin Group business spans an airline, a rail service, drinks, hotels and leisure, has committed to spending all the profits from his airline and rail business to combat global warming by cutting carbon emissions. Last year, Virgin started to power some of its trains using a fuel containing 20 per cent biodiesel produced mainly using British rapeseed oil blended with U.S. soybean oil and palm oil from the Far East. And you thought JP4 had an odour?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.O. Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Wow! A schmegma powered 747! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Wow! A schmegma powered 747! EEYOOOOO!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rattler Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 The dark side of bio fuels Mr. Coxe said in an interview that this surge would begin to show in the prices of consumer foods in the next six months. Consumers already paid 6.5% more for food in the past year. Wheat prices alone have risen 92% in the past year, and yesterday closed at US$9.45 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. At the centre of the imminent food catastrophe is corn - the main staple of the ethanol industry. The price of corn has risen about 44% over the past 15 months, closing at US$4.66 a bushel on the CBOT yesterday - its best finish since June 1996. http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=213343 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conehead Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Wow! A schmegma powered 747! Wow! Second time that word has popped up in two days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rattler Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Virgin is getting a lot of good press out of what is basically a PR stunt (nothing wrong with that ...... but ). Other reports say that the bio fuel was only loaded into the #4 tank and that it consisted only 20% of the actual fuel load in that tank which was filled to capacity. So the reality was that the engine operated on a mixture of fuel that contained only a very dilute amount of "Bio Fuel". And there there are those who point out what the impact on food production would be. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...hub=CTVNewsAt11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Cronin Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 You didn't read the posted article did you Rattler... it says ALL of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rattler Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 You didn't read the posted article did you Rattler... it says ALL of that. Mitch, the posted article would lead one to believe that the entire flight was operated on 25% Biofuel. Not even close to being true. Perhaps you might want to re-read the article that kip posted. Virgin Atlantic statement said the biofuel mix provided 25 per cent of the fuel for the test flight. The biofuels blend on the Virgin flight contained 20 per cent neat biofuel and 80 per cent conventional jet fuel. Virgin founder Richard Branson said tests had shown it was possible to fly with a 40 per cent blend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fido Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 If Branson is involved then it can be nothing but a publicity stunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Cronin Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 LONDON — Nuts [yadayada] A Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet flew from London to Amsterdam with one of its fuel tanks filled with a bio-jet blend [blahblah]statement said the biofuel mix provided 25 per cent of the fuel for the test flight. The biofuels blend on the Virgin flight contained 20 per cent neat biofuel and 80 per cent conventional jet fuel. Virgin founder Richard Branson said tests had shown it was possible to fly with a 40 per cent blend. One engine was getting 20% biofuel. That's what that article leads this one to believe...isn't that so? ...seems a tad more than "very dilute" to me... That tank, with the "mix" in it... the "bio-blend" of "20%" bio and "80%" Jet fuel provided fuel for the entire flight to one engine ....25% of the engines on a 4 engined 747.... I dunno, I thought it was clear enough, but now that I'm gazing into it so deep, I'm not so sure I can't hear Led Zeppelin played backwards in there somewhere... BTW... He also points out he didn't want to use food based bio-fuel... Cheers, y'old fart... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handyman Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Biofuel...a political joke created by environmentalists missing a few screws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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