British Airways pledges to buy Solena “GreenSky London” jet fuel made from London waste for 10 years – site location still not known

Jonathon Counsell, BA’s head of environment, says operational measures, new technology, and biofuels will help carrier halve emissions by 2050

Through its One Destination plan the company is aiming to halve its net CO2 emissions [net CO2 emissions, not gross emissions – net cuts come largely from buying carbon credits from other sectors]  by 2050 against 2005 levels and Jonathon Counsell, BA’s head of environment, is “absolutely confident” it can deliver on the ambitious target.

“For us, that [level] means the aviation industry can grow sustainably,” he says. “If the rest of the world can deliver 50% cuts that keeps us at 3% [of global emissions], which we think is a sustainable position.”

[This means that the rest of the UK economy has to make carbon cuts of 80% of its level in 1990, by 2050.  At the same time, the UK aviation industry is offering to keep its carbon emissions at the level they were in 2005 – which was much higher than in 1990 – by 2050. It plans to do this largely be trying to get whatever genuinely low carbon renewable fuels are available, rather than other sectors having them – there is no inherent logic in why aviation should get them.  The aviation industry will try and make some small savings by being more efficient, filling planes, taking more direct routes, continuous descent and take off etc – including coatings on the outside of the plane ….  And the aviation sector will only make net cuts, many of which are by buying carbon credits from other sectors which have actually cut their carbon and cut their energy use. Aviation expects to be about the one sector that does not have to make actual cuts in carbon emissions. That is not even taking into account the radiative forcing effects of non-CO2 emissions from planes, such as NOx and formation of cirrus cloud,  which effectively approximately double the climate effect of the CO2 alone ].

The big problem BA has to overcome to meet its goal is jet fuel consumption, which represents 99 per cent of its overall carbon footprint.

For a start, the company has “about 50 initiatives” dedicated to flying smarter, shorter, and lighter, Counsell says, with an overall goal of reducing carbon emissions to 83 grams per passenger kilometre by 2035. The company has already made steady progress from its 2007 baseline of 110g/CO2 pkm, reaching just over 102g/CO2 pkm in 2011.

Over the next four months 60 flights to the US will experiment with using GPS to track more direct routes and smooth take-offs and landings to avoid wasting fuel. Quicker landings also avoid keeping aircraft in holding patterns, which has unwanted noise and pollution effects.

Counsell anticipates further savings when a new fleet of 12 Airbus A380s and 24 Boeing 787s comes in next year. Both of these models are slated to be 20 per cent more efficient than the aircraft they are replacing.

Meanwhile, the company is also taking innovative steps designed to deliver incremental efficiency savings. For example, BA has realised some flights require less potable water on board than others – contrast a corporate traveller-dominated overnight service to New York with a daytime journey stacked with children to Florida, for example. Profiling such flights has helped shrink reserves from the standard 1.5 tonnes on a 747 to one tonne, lightening the load and saving fuel.

Similarly, Counsell predicts further fuel savings of 0.4 per cent could be achieved with a low-friction outside coating for aircraft which has already performed well in tests.

However, with the exception of the new aircraft, these efforts are unlikely to make the huge leaps demanded by BA’s sustainability goals – so to make the requisite progress BA is investing heavily in alternative green fuels.

The company signed a deal with US-based biofuels specialist Solena in 2009 committing to work together to build a biofuels plant at one of four sites in East London capable of turning waste into jet fuel.

Using waste as a feedstock bypasses the criticisms levelled at traditional, crop-based fuels of damaging land use change and pushing up food prices.

Counsell reckons the Solena plant could account for two per cent of BA’s fuel from 2015 and says construction work is imminent.

“We have a preferred site for the project and an engineering company that will build it,” he says. “We’re getting close to having all the pieces in the jigsaw coming together … [and] should be making an announcement before the end of the year.

Lufthansa, KLM, and Virgin are among other large carriers experimenting with alternative fuels and as oil prices spike and pressure to cut emissions grows and Counsell envisages a future where sustainable biofuels account for 20% of the industry’s fuel.

“It’s been proven the will is there, the technology is now a commercial issue,” he adds. “The route we’re going down will be cost competitive with fossil fuel by 2015. And once we’ve proven the technology, we can look at building more plants across the UK.”

Many of these green policies are seemingly at odds with the image BA has created for itself by lobbying for extra airport capacity, most notably a third runway at Heathrow, and through the frequent attacks Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA’s parent company International Airlines Group (IAG), has launched at the EU’s aviation emissions rules.

Counsell is quick to counter the view held by many environmentalists that the company is undermining green progress. He says the new A380s are three quarters quieter than 747s when coming into land, [this is a highly misleading statement – it really is not 75% quieter in terms of what someone on the ground hears, merely a technical measurement of sound energy – amounting to a few decibels less noise heard. AirportWatch comment] while reduced congestion will improve air quality around airports.  [Most airports make a great deal of money from car parking, so are reluctant to reduce the number of car journeys bringing passengers to the airport.  AirportWatch comment]  Such arguments combined with a perceived need to open up new routes to emerging economies seem to be swaying some members of the government, with David Cameron recently launching a new review of airport capacity.

However, green groups have consistently maintained expanding airports will require other sectors of the economy to make far deeper carbon cuts to meet the UK’s target of reducing emissions 80% on 1990 levels by 2050.  Moreover, they point out that airline’s inclusion in the EU’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) should push up the cost of flying, negating the need for extra capacity.

Counsell says BA supports emissions trading, which covers all flights in and out of the EU. But he is “very concerned that including all emissions outside of the EU could attract retaliatory action”.

This worry may be borne out: China has already reportedly frozen a $14bn order with Airbus in protest against the EU scheme, while the US Congress has considered two bills that would effectively ban US airlines from complying with the EU regulation. Meanwhile, Chinese and Indian airlines have both refused to supply the EU with emissions data, laying the foundations for a major legal battle. However, reports suggest no one country wants to impose punitive measures without a clear indication others will join it.

All sides in the dispute would prefer a global solution agreed through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), but final proposals for a new emissions management regime are not expected to be presented by the UN body until October 2013, and its slow progress to date was what prompted the EU to start its regional scheme in the first place.[The proposals will be put to ICAO in March 2013, but agreement is difficult as the airlines and governments of developed and developing countries have areas – especially involveing money – on which they cannot agree. AirportWatch comment].

Counsell argues that the EU should head off the risk of a major trade war by changing the law so it only considers carbon emitted in EU airspace or exempts in-bound flights before carriers start to submit carbon offsets.

“This is straight-forward to do – a simple and pragmatic solution – and we’re running out of time,” he warns. “If the EU fails to amend [EU ETS] we will go through a very difficult period that will be potentially damaging to EU carriers.”

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/interview/2208487/ba-attempts-to-land-concept-of-sustainable-aviation

Solena partnership with BA to produce jet fuel from London municipal waste – delayed over 2 years?

Date added: September 10, 2012

In 2010 it was announced that Solena and BA would build a plant to produce jet fuel in London. Solena hoped the new aviation fuel would be produced from several types of waste materials destined for landfill. The airline said it plans to use the low-carbon fuel to power part of its fleet beginning in 2014. In 2010 they said the self-contained plant will likely be built in east London. It’s expected to convert 551,000 tons of waste into 16 million gallons of green jet fuel each year. However, the timetable has slipped. Little news can be found about it, and there is no planning application yet. One website said the project will start in 2nd quarter of 2014 and end 2nd quarter 2016. Oxford Catalysts were selected to supply the modular Fischer-Tropsch technology . There has been no planning application yet at Rainham Marshes. The timetable seems to have slipped by at least 27 months.

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Lufthansa turns to algae and municipal solid waste as sources of jet biofuel

Date added: September 23, 2012

In a long and detailed article, with customary thoroughness, Green Air examines what is happening with Lufthansa and jet biofuel. While Solena has still not announced progress on building a plant in east London to produce jet fuel from London’s municipal waste for BA, it is progressing in Germany. There are plans in the Schwedt/Oder region of eastern Germany to build a Solena facility, using waste from landfills and incinerators. They hope to convert more than 520,000 tonnes of waste biomass into jet fuel, diesel fuel and electricity. Lufthansa is also looking to obtain jet fuel made from algae by Australian based Algae.Tec, which plans to grow algae in 40 ft shipping containers, using light capture arrays and light tubes, and CO2 from an industrial source – as well as water and minerals. Algae.Tec have so far opened a one-container test facility south of Sydney.

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