Solar plane takes off in Switzerland

Agence France-Press reports on the historical solar plane flight that took off this morning in Switzerland.

Star Impulse (picture right) set off to fly on a 25 hour trip from Payerne, Switzerland. The ground crew will see if it can take in enough electrical charge during daylight hours to continue overnight.

The round-the-clock flight by the prototype built last year is the first major hurdle for the project since it started seven years ago, with the aim of flying around the world by 2013 or 2014.

The speed is only 22 miles per hour with a single pilot. This is much slower than a small aircraft like a Cessna that reaches over 100 mph.

Read the full story: Solar plane sets out on historic flight

Photo from France 24

Air Canada green flights

Terra Curve reports that Air Canada will offer voluntary carbon offsets to all passengers wishing to make their flights "green."

Powered by a new partnership with Zerofootprint, a leading organization in the global fight against climate change, the bilingual Voluntary Carbon Offset program offers travelers the choice of two new ISO-14064 certified carbon offsets projects – including an Ontario-based landfill gas recovery project and a tire recycling program in Quebec.

Read more here: Choose to fly green with Air Canada

Photo from Global Giants

United Airlines to demonstrate fuel-saving flights

Associated Press reports on United Airlines fuel-saving flight demonstrations this weekend.

United will fly a normal commercial route with passengers from Frankfurt to Chicago and back on Saturday. However these flights on Boeing 777s will be expected to save 3 percent of the fuel (around 940 gallons) normally used. This will be achieved by not staying at a precise altitude; which burns extra fuel to maintain.

This flight will drift up and down as much as 3,000 feet; [which] also lets them choose the best altitude depending on wind and other conditions, said Joe Burns, a United captain and managing director of technology and flight tests.

He said those small adjustments wouldn't make much difference on a short domestic flight, but they add up on an eight- or 10-hour overseas flight.

Read more here: United Airlines plans fuel-saving flight

Photo by Eric Risberg / AP file

British Airways crews five-day strike

USA Today reports on the five-day strike of British Airways cabin crews.

Thousands of British Airways cabin crew began a five-day strike Monday, though the airline claimed it will still be able to carry 70% of passengers who have booked flights.

The walkout in the increasingly bitter feud follows the failure of weekend talks between the Unite union and the airline. A key issue is the union's demand that the airline restore employee travel benefits which the airline suspended following an earlier strike.

Read the full story: British Airways cabin crew begin 5-day strike

Photo by Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty Images

MIT designs "greener" passenger plane

MSNBC reports on a new passenger plane design by MIT researchers for NASA that will cut fuel consumption and emit less carbon than traditional airplanes by 2050.

The design will feature engines near the tail of the plane; which the researchers say will cause less drag than today's models with engines on the wings.

The 180-passenger D “double bubble” series was designed for domestic flights, meant to replace the Boeing 737 class aircraft, the most popular jetliner in the world right now. The design is called a “double bubble” because it uses two partial cylinders placed side by side. Those two cylinders create a wider structure that looks like two soap bubbles joined together.

Read the full story: Fly the eco-friendly skies

Photo from Discovery.com

Climate change studies on volcano ash plane ban

Reuters reports that the recent European flying ban due to the Icelandic erupting volcano ash could help scientists understand the link between flight emissions and climate change.

The climate effects of jet fuel burned at high altitude are poorly understood, partly because scientists cannot often compare plane-free skies with days when many regions are criss-crossed by white vapor trails.

Scientists will pore over European temperature records, satellite images and other data from days when flights were grounded by ash -- trying to isolate any effect of a lack of planes from the sun-dimming effect of Iceland's volcanic cloud.

"The presence of volcanic ash makes this event much more challenging to analyze," said David Travis, of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, who found that an absence of vapor trails influenced U.S. temperatures after the September 11 attacks.

Read the full story: Like Sept. 11, volcano plane ban may hold climate clue

Photo from Emory Kristof / National Geographic

Flying thin is better for the environment

The New York Times reports on the problem of obese airline passengers.

This is always a delicate issue, but something that is a reality in the flights of today. Being thin, a healthy eater, and exerciser should be rewarded on a flight rather than having to be wedged next to someone who is fat and spilling over into your seat. Maybe airlines should also discount tickets for thin passengers as well as charge more for obese ones.

Although the article itself doesn't mention this, one of the comments says that overweight people use more fuel thereby being more responsible for greenhouse gas warming emissions. Thin people who fly are better for the environment.

Read the full story: Excuse me, is this seat taken?

Illustration by Leif Parsons

Record decline in international air travel for 2009

USA Today reports that less people flew internationally last year, the sharpest decline in history.

[This will pave] the way for more losses and belt tightening in the months ahead, an industry trade organization said Wednesday.

Traffic declined 3.5% in 2009, with the average plane flying 75.6% full, the International Air Transport Association reported.

Read the full story: International air travel dropped most ever in 2009

Photo of Heathrow plane from Transport Crucible

Fly solar for zero environmental impact?

Ecotravel News was away celebrating the holiday season but is now back and ready with new travel news for the (almost) new year.

USA Today reports on the solar-powered plane that engineers hope will be a prototype to be used for future commercial trips.

While the world's attention was tuned to the recent global climate conference in Copenhagen, in an old airplane hangar on a small Swiss airfield, a group of visionaries, dreamers and engineers was busily assembling a vehicle that is their solution to global climate change and the future of commercial aviation. This airplane uses no fossil or bio-fuels. It is a solar-powered airplane, collecting the sun's rays on 12,000 solar cells spread across its wings to charge the special lithium-polymer batteries that will continue to power the airplane from sunset till the next sunrise.

Read the full story: Can a solar-powered airplane be the future of aviation?

Photo by David Grossman

Should fat fliers pay more?

MSNBC ponders that question after a picture of a large man on a flight spilling out of his seat was reportedly taken by a flight attendant.

Policies differ by airline — some carriers try to accommodate their passengers at no cost, some require their large customers to purchase a second seat and reimburse the money if the plane is not full and a second seat becomes available.

Read the full story with comments: Readers respond: should obese fliers pay more?

St Louis airport to ban all smoking, controversy

The St. Louis Dispatch via USA Today reports on the controversy versus the city and the county over how the 2011 smoking ban will affect Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Mayor Francis Slay's smoking ban for the entire city of St. Louis will take effect on January 2011; and this will extend to the airport's smoking lounges (picture right).

Slay noted [on his blog] that the airport is a "political hybrid," in that it is in St. Louis County but owned by the city. But the decision on smoking, Slay said on his blog, belongs to the city, "as owner of the facility."

St. Louis County counselor Patricia Redington said the smoking lounge exemption is clear in the county ordinance.

But, she added, "If the city hands out citations to smokers in the lounge, the city's authority to do so will be an issue between the city and the people who are charged and will not be the county's concern."

Read the full story: A smoke-free St. Louis airport may pit city against county

Photo of Lambert Intl smoking lounge from Bridge and Tunnel club website

KLM tests first passenger flight fueled with renewables

Reuters video reports on the first passenger airplane flight using renewable fuels.

KLM Dutch Airlines flight which circled the skies over The Netherlands used a 50/50 mix of biofuel and traditional fuel. Although it carried passengers it was still a test flight.

Watch the report below:

Airline emissions to be halved by 2050

The Financial Times reports on the airline industry plans to halve carbon emissions by 2050.

The plan initiative set forth by British Airways chief Willie Walsh will be unveiled at the United Nations climate change forum today in New York.

"International aviation emissions were not included in the Kyoto Protocol 12 years ago," [Walsh] said. "Now we have a chance to rectify that omission -- and we must seize it."

The plan is unlikely to satisfy environmental campaigners, however. By choosing 2005 as the year from which to cut emissions, the aviation industry will be able to make its proposed reductions from a much higher base than if it had chosen 1990, the year used for comparisons by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Read the full story: Airline industry plans to halve carbon emissions

Photo by AFP/Getty images

Airlines to be carbon neutral by 2020?

Reuters reports that the world's airlines have committed to be carbon-neutral by 2020.

The head of the International Airline Transport Association gave this news at their annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today.

Giovanni Bisignani said wide cooperation was needed from allied industries and governments. "Air navigation service providers must make it possible to fly even more effectively. Fuel companies must supply eco-friendly fuels and governments must give us access to credits in global carbon markets."

Aviation is responsible for about 2 percent of global greenhouse gas pollution and that share is expected to rise.

Read the full story: Airlines to achieve CO2 neutral-growth by 2020: IATA

Biofuels reduce CO2 emissions but not plane performance says Boeing

McClatchy Newspapers reports that according to a Boeing official, biofuels used in airplanes reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also don't affect plane performance.

Initial flight tests have found that jet fuel made partly of camelina, algae or other bio-feed stocks can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes by more than 50 percent, doesn't affect performance and presents no technical or safety problems, a top Boeing official said Thursday.

"It meets all jet fuel requirements and then some," said Billy Glover, who heads Boeing's environmental strategy group.

Glover said a full report on the test flights would be released next month and aviation biofuel could be approved for use as early as next year. Despite its promise, however, Glover said the real problem is how quickly growers can start producing and refiners processing enough biofuel to make it an alternative to the Jet A fuel used today.

Read the full story: Aviation biofuel proves itself in tests, but is there enough?

By train, car, or bus?

The Associated Press via USA Today compiled a list to answer the question of "what's the greenest way to travel?"

It explains how to determine which form of transport leaves the smallest carbon footprint depending on distance, vehicle size and class.

Read the full story: What's the greenest way to travel?

content note: the AP now only allows subscribers to view and use their content; so that's why most of the AP stories we use here have been printed elsewhere.

Airport to be carbon-negative?

Mycitytalk.com reports that New York's Stewart International airport, north of Manhattan, is striving to be "carbon-negative."

The region's other airports, JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia are prone to gridlock so the Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey who operate all four airports, are expanding Stewart as a way to ease plane traffic and claim the design will be beyond eco-friendly.

But in order for it to be carbon-negative it must overcome many obstacles including the fact that airplanes emit a lot of greenhouse gases.

[The Port Authority] has yet to announce a plan, but the possibilities are multi-faceted. It likely will incorporate the latest energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive design into all new airport buildings. On-site generation of power from solar or wind energy will help. Connecting the airport to Manhattan via mass transit already is under review.

Read the full story: Building the first carbon-negative airport

Sun and wind power airports

USA Today reports on several airports around the country that are getting their power from solar and wind power.

Among the airports using solar power are Denver (picture right) International, San Francisco and Long Beach, California.

Boston's Logan International is currently testing wind power.

Read the full story: Solar powered airports?

Continental latest airline to test biofuel

CNN reports on Continental Airlines foray into the biofuel testing arena.

Continental is the first national airline to test a mix of algae and jatropha oils in a 50-50 mix with traditional jet fuel.

The test, performed yesterday out of Houston, compared a biofuel plane with one running on all jet fuel.

The Boeing 737 burned less fuel in the biofuel-powered engine than a conventionally powered engine, and the two performed identically during the one-hour, 40-minute flight, Boeing spokesman Terrance Scott said.

We reported last September on Boeing, Virgin, and eight other airlines' commitment to working on biofuel development in the commercial airline industry.

International carriers Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand tested their own biofuel mixes last year.

Read the full story: Biofuels take to the skies in airline tests

Air New Zealand tests biofuels

Happy New Year and welcome back from Ecotravel News. We hope the holidays were a nice relaxing and refreshing time for everyone and we now can start 2009 anew.

As you can see Ecotravel News has a new look and hope you like it.

The holidays are always a great time for travel and that makes Ecotravel News happy about new innovations and greener ways to get around and see the world.

For the first post of 2009, Reuters is following up on the Air New Zealand story we ran last month about using biofuels in their flights. Watch their video report below: