Nowadays, almost everyone loves to take a flight to various locations. Because of the busy schedule, people also love to take frequent vacations, thus lead to more flight journeys. But thankfully, there are a handful of travel influencers who are spreading awareness about reducing the carbon footprints while traveling. Being a conscious traveller can only help us to resolve this issue. Check the link for more details about conscious travelling: https://worshipveganism.com/index.php/2023/02/22/how-to-be-a-climate-conscious-traveler/
While researching on this topic, I found EcoJet is a new player in the aviation industry which is constantly changing the game. It’s world’s first electric airlines company with guilt-free, zero carbon emissions revolutionising the air travel industry. The very popular British entrepreneur, Dale Vince launched it. hill doing an interview with Daily Mail Online, Vince said, “Ecojet is by far the most significant step towards a solution to date. The desire to travel is deeply etched into the human spirit, and flights free of C02 emissions, powered by renewable energy will allow us to explore our incredible world without harming it for the first time.”
In September 2022, an Israeli aircraft company Eviation Aircraft launched their first electric jet named Alice. They flew from Washington’s Grant County International Airport and came back to the same airport after flying for 8 minutes at an altitude of 3500 feet from the ground. It is a considerable success in the aviation industry which cannot be ignored at all.
Facts about EcoJet Airlines:
1. Vince said that his electric aircrafts will be able to function on biodiesel, if needed to keep the carbon footprints in control.
2. His aircrafts will be retrofitted with the hydrogen-electric power engines as soon as they get final approval from Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA).
3. Initially, they are planning to fly conventionally with as fuelled aircrafts.
4. The airlines is also planning to launch a complete plant-based meal on-board for the passengers with a provision of plating on single-use plastic scraps which can be recycled later.
5. EcoJet is sure to save 90,000 tons of carbon emission per year.
6. The only byproduct will be used by this airlines is water, to avoid unforeseen harmful effects of contrails.
IEA about commercial aviation
According to the IEA (International Energy Agency), aviation industry is solely responsible for 2% of carbon emission all over the planet, as per their 2022 reports. Though the carbon emission level is quite low, but there is a huge scope of reducing it. On the other hand, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) researched that aviation industry is one of the fastest growing industry which is creating an imbalance in the environment and causing serious climate change issues.
World Economic Forum about commercial aviation
World Economic Forum is saying that if this 2% of aviation pollution is not coming under control, then it will reach to 22% by 2050. The airlines falling under IATA (International Air Transport Association) promised to reach net-zero carbon emission by 2050. This clearly means that the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) coming from the aircrafts will be taken care off.
Recently, Virgin Atlantic declared that they are planning to fly a Boeing 787 demo flight from Heathrow International Airport (London) to JFK International Airport (New York) using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to be tagged as the world’s first net-zero trans-Atlantic flight. Although, the safety regulations allow the flight to operate on 50% SAF blended with kerosene. So the rest of the 30% flight’s emission can be a future investment in carbon removal technology.
Overall, this entire concept looks pretty effective in the long run. But, implementing it only by one aviation company or in just one country is not going to be highly effective. All the commercial aviation companies have to step forward to realise the discrepancy here and have to take a much necessary step to reverse the climate change on this planet.