Baba Sue

In 2 years time, we will all be driving battery powered hybrids here and there, biodiesel powered tractor trailers, and flying biofueled 777s. I suppose personal modes of transportation will be the first to change; moving a 100 kg person is much easier on battery power than fence posts on a flatbed truck.

Virgin flew a ‘biofueled’ 747-400, what, about three months back, with great fanfare. The hope is that soon they’ll be able to run their entire Boeing fleet on a 50/50 mix of melted hog fat and used french fry oil. Nice!

What wasn’t said was that the plane actually ran on 80% Jet A. The 20% that was bio based was a mix of coconut and babassu oils. And, as I understand it, only one engine of the four on that jet was fed this concoction. So we’re looking at a 95/5 mix.

It takes no great leap to realize that these oils are nowhere to be found in the natural setting anywhere between London and Amsterdam (the flight route), or anywhere in the US for that matter. Babassu is being widely used as a substitute for coconut oil and grows today in the Amazon. So, the next strip of Brazil to be razed will be to build a runway to get our countries’ engineers and agribusiness professionals in to assist the local inhabitants in tearing down their forests for massive oil plantations to ship to the US to assuage our green guilt -- all to power 5% of our aircraft engines.

I wonder what it'd take to reverse that ratio, say 5/95. What about wind power? A renewable resource at 600 mph! A plane creates its own wind – so install a 5th turbine whose prime mover is the wind, powering a generator that can be used to run the onboard electrics, AC systems, and in-flight movies. Lots of fuselage skin surface could also support nanosolar cells; use them to power a battery system to ensure there's sufficient speed to keep the wind turbine running. Use palm oils sparingly, only to supplement the other two systems during hard acceleration and braking.

"FAA to announce today that it will clear Virgin Atlantic to resume flights to the ocean floor."