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Travel Health & Environment Watch

Airguide Online, Sept 10, 2007

Sep 10, 2007

Japan aims for space-based solar power by 2030. Putting solar collectors into space circumvents the biggest problems facing the environmentally sound energy source -- namely night-time and cloud cover that keeps the sun's rays from reaching earth-bound collectors. Japan's space agency, JAXA, has plans to put solar collectors in orbit and then beam 42% of the collected energy to Earth via lasers. The agency hopes to have the system in place by 2030. Sep 7, 2007

EU climate group recommends tighter controls on aviation. Environmental group Friends of the Earth has commissioned a report that recommends more taxes on the aviation industry as a way to encourage fuel efficiency and cut carbon emissions. Suggestions include a fuel tax and a value-added tax on passenger tickets. Sep 4, 2007

Virgin Group

Virgin Atlantic in the past favored four-engined planes because he said passengers, staff and pilots preferred them. But Virgin's low coast carriers such as Virgin Blue, Virgin America and Virgin Nigeria. all operate twin-engined Airbus jets. "Global warming has become a priority, but it also makes good economic sense to be eco-friendly," Branson told reporters, adding he favored two-engined jets for the future. From 3 percent of mankind's total contribution to global warming in 2005, aviation's emissions are set to rise by a factor of two to five by 2050, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a major report this year. Branson, who was in London to promote the PICNIC environmental innovation competition, doubted travelers would be deterred by the figures and called on politicians to act. Virgin is developing biofuels for aircraft alongside Boeing and engine-maker GE Aviation and plans to test them next year. Branson has pledged that for the next 10 years all profits from his 51 percent stakes in Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains will be invested in renewable energy. Sep 4, 2007

Virgin Group

Virgin Group boss Richard Branson said he would aim to avoid buying fuel-thirsty four-engined planes in future to curb fuel costs and the environmental impact of his fast-growing airlines. Fears that CO2 emissions from airlines are fueling climate change will not reduce demand for air travel, he added, but innovation in biofuels could provide a solution in the next decade. Virgin Atlantic's fleet of 38 planes all have four engines, and it has six four-engined Airbus A380 superjumbos on order. But in April the airline said it was buying 15 of Boeing's new fuel-efficient carbon-composite 787 jets with two engines, which burn 27 percent less fuel than the Airbus A340s they will replace. Sep 4, 2007

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