Hats off to Air New Zealand. While we were getting ready to celebrate the New Year, Air New Zealand was getting ready to begin a new era of fuel usage which will be more environmentally friendly.
On December 30, 2008 Air New Zealand along with partners Boeing, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell's UOP flight tested a new biofuel. This was the first commercial flight test using a second generation sustainable biofuel. The fuel is a derivative of Jatropha which produces seeds containing an inedible form of lipid oils.
Below is information from Air New Zealand's website describing the testing and the factors about choosing the Jatropha plant for the biofuel. Hopefully more airlines will consider adding more eco-friendly sources of fuel in the near future.
" ...the fuel source must be environmentally sustainable and not compete with existing food resources. Secondly, the fuel must be a drop-in replacement for traditional jet fuel and technically be at least as good as the product used today. Finally, it should be cost competitive with existing fuel supplies and be readily available.
The criteria for sourcing the jatropha oil required that the land was neither forest land nor virgin grassland within the previous two decades. The quality of the soil and climate is such that the land is not suitable for the vast majority of food crops. Furthermore, the farms are rain-fed and not mechanically irrigated."
For more information, visit Air New Zealand's site:
http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/aboutus/biofuel-test/default.htm
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