I have a friend who owns a Chinese restaurant famous for producing an extraordinary amount of grease and oil at the end of the day. Wonder if I can offer that up to offset my ticket price?

 

Didnt Continental do this already? And proved it to work well and reliable. Im sure the FAA wont certify it for another 10yrs

 

I've been clipping articles on this for years. People would come on here and say something about it casually, which would force me to dig around for two hours afterwards. Now I have it all collected right 'cheer-

Future Fuels for Jets

 

It's already been certified by the FAA. Hence the reason why CAL operated a revenue passenger flight on Monday between IAH and ORD using a blend of biofuels.

Now Alaska is going to operate 75 flights using biofuels.

I'm all for biofuels and being environmentally conscious. However, on a business report the other day the reporter said Alaska admits it is spending $17/gallon for the fuel for these flights, about five times as much as current aviation fuel.

CAL/UAL just signed an agreement to use millions of gallons of this stuff. Yes, the more it gets made, mass produced and used the cost will come down. It does have to start somewhere. That being said CAL/UAL management will not be getting any sympathy from me in talking about "high fuel costs" and how there is no money to pay employees. Fuel and pay are the costs of doing business so pass them on to the end user--the passenger.

 

I wonder if it will make the jets/ramp smell like french fries?

 

Most of it is made from algae pools. Probably smells like pond scum if anything.

 

Shame they can't figure out how to run bull chips through a fuel pump, if they could we make enough in most airline General Offices to fill the largest refineries in Houston.

 

$16 to $17 for a gallon of homebrew VS. $2 to $3 for a gallon of dead dinosaurs. I think it will be a while until the world has to think about switching, and if that day ever comes we are all out of a job already because the world economy will be toast.
I think Alaska doing 75 flights, instead of 1 or 2 flights like UAL, is all about marketing and essentially low cost advertising. Getting another "green" award and making yourself popular to the SEA and CA tree huggers doesn't hurt either.

 

I'm sure biofuel has P/R value value with earthers but the main driver here is carbon tax avoidance. Many airlines also see it as a hedge against an oil crisis, with now as being the right time to stimulate the nascent biofuel industry. Present biofuel prices are not much of a bargain but when economies of scale kick in it might get down enough to be worthwhile during a fuel crisis.