Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) – At the world’s biggest market show in Las Vegas high-end jets are tempting buyers with their sleek shapes, luxurious cabins – and significantly, their use of alternative fuels.

Fuel producers and jetmakers are eager to showcase unique types of air travel fuel deemed less hazardous to the climate, from used cooking oil to the noticeably less glamorous meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have actually bowed to ecological pressure on air travel and dedicated to in half carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that adopting renewable fuel to curb emissions could make service jets more appealing to ecologically mindful purchasers – especially corporations dealing with questions over sustainability from investors or green campaign groups.

The availability of less polluting personal jets might likewise spare the abundant and famous the unfavorable promotion experienced by Britain’s Prince Harry and his better half Meghan over a recent personal jet trip to southern France.

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

The most recent waste-based fuels include “fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food market,” stated Bryan Sherbacow, primary industrial officer of Boston-based biofuel manufacturer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste used by Gulfstream.

“All of our product is inedible.”

A few of the other 79 aircraft on screen are expected to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other eco-friendly fuel mixes expected to be pumped at the show.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets account for less than 0.1% of overall annual carbon emissions globally, but can release, usually, up to 20 times more carbon emissions per traveler mile than jetliners, according to the London-based private charter firm Victor.

Prince Harry has actually defended his occasional usage of personal jets to ensure his family’s security, and has actually stated that on the rare occasions he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state events such as the furore over his travel plan have added fresh difficulties for a market already aiming to justify its contribution to cutting corporate expenses.

“Incidents of flight shaming involving the usage of private jets are regrettable when you consider that our market has provided fuel effectiveness enhancements of 40% over the past 40 years,” said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

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

But even an image makeover – with jets sporting sticker labels like “this aircraft flies on eco-friendly fuels” and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for going to airplanes – is not likely to please all critics at the Oct 22-24 luxury jet occasion.

Environmentalists and some analysts stay doubtful that biojetfuels, normally blended 50-50 with kerosene, will make a substantial impact on public perceptions about luxury travel.

“No quantity of jatropha curcas or Brazil-nut fuel can make service jets look eco-friendly,” said air travel analyst Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from organization jet operators for renewable 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, could expand production as much as 150 million gallons by 2022.

Corporate charter companies and experts are likewise seeing more interest from customers who wish to buy 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 usage research study his company just recently completed for a Fortune 500 business.

“At the end of the day, I think that rate, expense per hour, range, speed and performance, that’s still the (sales) motorist. But I believe people are becoming more knowledgeable about the sustainability of operations and how it impacts the world.” (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)