Biofuel Taking Flight

Later this month, a Virgin Atlantic 747 will fly from Heahtrow to Amsterdam on the first flight of a commercial airliner using biofuel.

The plane will carry fueld that is 80% jet fuels/20% biofuel, and will be powered by GE CF6 aircraft engines that reportedly require no retrofitting to accomodate the new recipe.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the impact of aircraft on overall greenhouse gas emissions is significant:

"...greenhouse gas emissions from domestic aircraft are expected to increase 60 percent by 2025. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that increases in air transportation over the next 50 years will result in a threefold increase in aircraft CO{-2} emissions and a 13 percent increase in ozone."

Virgin Atlantic's parent company, the Virgin Group, has pledged to invest all profits from its transportation operations into the development of clean energy.

Virgin jet to use biofuel blend in test flight [San Francisco Chronicle]