Virgin Atlantic biofuel demonstration flight
Peak Oil is the point at which the depletion of existing reserves can no longer be replaced by additions of new flow capacity - in other words it is the point at which the world peaks in oil production. Up until now we have always had more oil to use than there was in the previous year. However as oil is a finite resource this cannot continue indefinitely. Once oil production peaks the world will have to start to use less oil each year due to dwindling supply which will lead to an increase in the price of oil.
Source: The UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil & Energy
Security. The Oil Crunch: Secur- ing the UK’s energy future. (This report was part funded by the Virgin Group).
This innovative
Fuels
The era of ‘cheap oil’ is coming to a close and peak oil is fast approaching as extraction and refining become increasingly difficult and more environmentally damaging and energy intensive. Oil is a finite resource and technological advancements can only go so far. We need to look for alternative aviation fuels, not only because of the urgency arising from climate change, but simply because we are running out . Along with other stakeholders, the Virgin airlines are championing the development of fuels based on second generation biofuels that are harvested from sustainable sources in order to reduce the sector’s dependence on declining oil supplies and reduce its carbon footprint.
However, the sustainability debate surrounding biofuels is extremely complex and biofuel production has been associated with a swathe of unintended consequences including; the link between biofuel production and increases in food prices, the loss of natural habitats and the fact that many are so fossil fuel intensive in their production, that they may have no carbon benefit at all! Although many biofuels have been made unsustainably and inefficiently in the past, we believe they have the potential to become sustainable and efficient in the future.
Any large scale move towards biofuels would occur incrementally over time. Blends of biofuel and conventional kerosene would be introduced, and then over time the proportion of biofuel will be increased. However, even with low percentage blends, the sheer quantities of biomass required to produce sufficient fuel for aviation would be colossal. Even with the sustainability issues
overcome, biofuels are not yet being produced on a viable scale, although this emerging sector is growing fast.
Second and third generation biofuels do not use food products as their feedstocks. These biofuels would be made from waste biomass or plants such as algae and salt water tolerant halophytes and could be commercially viable in sufficient quantities for the aviation industry to use within the next five years. Virgin Atlantic anticipates that up to 5% of its fuel will come from sustainable biofuels by 2015 and Virgin Atlantic along with Virgin Blue and Virgin America aspire to a 10% biofuels mix by 2020.
What Virgin is doing with regards to biofuels:
• Virgin Atlantic was the first commercial airline to use biofuel in a demonstration flight
• the Virgin Group, through the Virgin Green Fund, is investing in research and development of emerging fuels (for more information on the Virgin Green Fund go to page 49)
• Virgin supports the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels
• Virgin Atlantic was a founder member of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group15 (SAFUG)
• Virgin Blue under the SAFUG banner, is working with other regional members to commission a roadmap for the commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuels in Australia and New Zealand .
15. http://www.boeing.com/ commercial/environment/ pdf/sustainable_aviation_ fuel_users_group.pdf
study brings together airlines, defence and research organisations, governments and fuel providers to identify opportunities and barriers to achieving a predetermined sustainable fuel mix by 2025. (An Australasian Region SAFUG Initiative).
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