Jetrader - May/June 2011 - 21

“There are exciting developments happening in various regions, (see Chart 2: Regional Biofuels Projects) and we’re involved in many of them,” Hurd said. “Boeing’s role is to be a leader and catalyst, and our principle desire is to accelerate development of this new jet fuel supply chain.” Boeing is promoting an equally aggressive goal on the way to aviation’s 2020 target for carbon neutrality: augmenting the industry’s fuel supply with one percent biofuels by 2015. For comparison’s sake, the industry is believed to have used about 50 billion gallons of fuel overall in 2010. “Depending on which forecast you use, we’ve estimated that one percent global target to be around 500-600 million gallons of bio-derived jet fuel a year. It’s an extremely aggressive goal, but we think that’s achievable,” Hurd said. “Our hope is that at or about one percent, you’ll have demonstrated that this is a viable marketplace.” The possibilities created by the wide variety of potential feedstocks are indicative of the considerable global sustainability potential created as aviation focuses on cutting its carbon emissions. “Different feedstocks will thrive in various regions, and we don’t believe there is one magic feedstock that’s going to be the answer. Jatropha is one that we’ve proven makes a good jet fuel. There are no large-scale, mechanized harvesting procedures for it yet, so it requires manual labor. That could provide economic opportunity in impoverished areas of the world.” In testing to date, fuel made from camelina, also known as “false ﬂax,” has garnered strong reviews for its low-carbon lifecycle footprint and renewable features. “It makes a great rotational crop with wheat. Estimates show that farmers can actually increase their wheat yields by up to 15 percent by rotating it in to replenish the soil,” Hurd said.

Chart 1: Promoting Sustainable Biofuels Commercial aviation’s ﬁrst serious steps toward more sustainable fuels came in 2008 when many top-level industry executives (IATA, manufacturers, airlines) pledged at the Air Transport Action Group Summit in Geneva to achieve carbon-neutral growth beyond 2020. Since then, a group of “early adopter” global airlines (listed here) have coalesced into the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (SAFUG), of which Boeing and Airbus are afﬁliate members. SAFUG members represent more than 20 percent of the industry’s total annual fuel use, and its clout, for example in Europe, is already being directed at inﬂuencing policy that could speed developments of alternative fuel supplies. (Source: Boeing).

Promoting Sustainable Biofuels

“The commercial aviation industry has verbally committed to achieve carbonneutral growth—or Mike Hurd, a net zero carbon Boeing Commercial footprint—beyond Airplanes director 2020, which is of environmental strateg y not very far off. We know we can’t get there with product technology and air traffic management system improvements alone. Biofuels are a key ingredient of our recipe for becoming carbonneutral.”

Biofuels Flights Boeing customers including Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, Continental, Japan Air Lines and KLM have successfully tested plant-based biofuels powering jet engines beginning in 2008. More recently, the American military has entered the alternative fuels arena with tests by the U.S. Navy on Earth Day 2010 of an F/A-18 powered by a Jet A/biofuel blend, and recently the U.S. Air Force ﬂew a similarly fueled C-17 Globemaster. (Photos: U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force)

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Jetrader - May/June 2011

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