The aviation industry contributes around 2% of all planet-heating carbon pollution and up to 12% of the transportation sector's output, but there's a potential solution on the horizon with a push toward more sustainable aviation fuels.
Greg Walden, a former Oregon congressman, has signaled a need for more federal support to get SAF production fast-tracked, which could increase U.S. energy independence while reducing carbon emissions, as shared by Aviation Across America.
These more environmentally friendly fuels could help the United States reach its goals for net-zero emissions by 2050, something which the international aviation industry has also pledged to achieve.
One major step in the right environmental direction is to increase the adoption of these fuels right now. As Walden noted, they can be created from a variety of sustainable feedstocks, including agricultural crops, cooking oils, and solid waste.
Reusing waste to reduce pollution is a win-win scenario, and many engines currently can use a mix of SAF with conventional fuels. Airbus states that its planes can use a blend with up to 50% of the sustainable version, while it intends to transition to 100% SAF capability in aircraft and helicopters by 2030.
United Airlines announced a delivery of 1 million gallons of the greener fuel for flights out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, while the San Francisco 49ers became the first NFL team to purchase SAF to reduce its own carbon footprint.
The Department of Energy claims that 1 billion dry tons of biomass can be collected in a sustainable manner, which is enough to generate 50 billion to 60 billion gallons of low-carbon biofuels.
Wet wastes, such as manure and wastewater treatment sludge, can also be used to produce these sustainable fuels.
Yes, even human poop can be harnessed to clean up the planet, as CNN shared. A company called Firefly uses hydrothermal liquefaction, which applies heat and pressure to convert sewage into carbon-rich biochar for construction or fertilizer, as well as crude oil that can be used for SAF.
Airbus says that, on average, SAF emits 80% less heat-trapping carbon than traditional jet fuels, while analysis of Firefly's product showed that it generates 90% less.
That's good news since jet fuel demand is expected to be twice that of pre-pandemic levels by 2050, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
By using food waste to create biofuels, we'll also be reducing the amount of material in landfills, which would help decrease methane pollution, a planet-warming gas over 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the long term (and much more potent than that in the short term).
NREL has been doing its own work with sustainable aviation fuel from wet waste, resulting in an SAF that's compatible with existing engines and has a significantly lower carbon footprint. The production of this SAF diverts more planet-warming gas pollution from the atmosphere than produced by using it in aircraft.
"Since the SAF blend would have a carbon footprint 165% lower than fossil jet [fuel], that blend is high enough to decarbonize flight," NREL scientist Derek Vardon explained.
"Our SAF route is not a silver bullet," Vardon continued, "but as a piece of the puzzle, it could make a significant dent in an industry notoriously hard to decarbonize."
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