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United Airlines Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton,called for large-scale US government loans, loan guarantees and grants
Committee on Climate Change, to advise the government on carbon budgets and progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, recommended
San Francisco International installed kiosks enabling passengers to pay a carbon offset fee
San Francisco-based Solazyme to provide 1,500 gal. of the world's first 100% algae-derived jet fuel
Naverus received a Letter of Qualification from FAA
Jeppesen said it received FAA certification

Eco-Aviation Today, October 12, 2009, p.8

United Airlines Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton, in his role as chairman of the US Air Transport Assn., called for large-scale US government loans, loan guarantees and grants to jumpstart development and mass production of alternative fuels, including biofuels for the airline industry. Speaking to the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative in Washington on Sept. 30, Tilton said the US government "has a critical role to play" in making biofuels commercially viable. "We need sustained funding and commitment from government and private investment sources. . .to get from what we have demonstrated as possible to full-scale commercial deployment."

While welcoming the release of $25 million in funding by the US Dept. of Agriculture for R&D into biofuels, including aviation fuels, Tilton told Eco-Aviation Today that the ultimate investment "has to be well beyond $25 million."

Committee on Climate Change, an independent body established under the UK's Climate Change Act 2008 to advise the government on carbon budgets and progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, recommended that global aviation emissions should be capped. The CCC warned that developed countries will need to take the lead in ensuring that aviation emissions in 2050 are no higher, and possibly lower, than 2005 levels. The recommendations were outlined in a letter from the CCC to Secretary of State for Transport Andrew Adonis and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband and were a result of government-requested advice on options to reduce aviation emissions ahead of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

The CCC recommendations are designed to reduce aviation emissions in line with a global reduction in all GHGs of 50% by 2050. It claims that cutting gross UK aviation emissions in 2050 to 2005 levels, together with 90% emissions cuts in other sectors, would achieve the required economywide 80% emissions reduction that has been committed to by the UK under the CCA.

San Francisco International installed kiosks enabling passengers to pay a carbon offset fee to help fund reforestation projects. The voluntary program was unveiled in late September and is the first of its kind in the US. The three Climate Passport kiosks are located beyond security checkpoints in the domestic and international terminals. Passengers simply enter their flight's details and whether their journey is a one way or roundtrip and pay by credit card. A transcontinental roundtrip will set the passenger back $13.50, with $12 going to a reforestation project at the Garcia River Forest in Mendocino County, Calif.

San Francisco-based Solazyme was selected by the US Dept. of Defense to provide 1,500 gal. of the world's first 100% algae-derived jet fuel for testing and certification by the US Navy. Solazyme won a separate USN contract to provide R&D and delivery of more than 20,000 gal. of renewable algae-derived F-76 Naval distillate fuel for use in USN ships. The company will use its large-scale algal renewable oil production process in conjunction with renewable jet fuel processing technology from Honeywell's UOP to fulfil the contract. The US Dept. of Energy estimates that 15,000 sq. mi. of algae, about the size of the state of Maryland, would be required to replace all of the petroleum used in the US whereas a biofuel from corn would require an area four times the size of the US.

Naverus received a Letter of Qualification from FAA "to design and validate Required Navigation Performance flight paths for public use in the United States." ATW's 2009 Aviation Technology Achievement Award winner has designed more than 300 optimized RNP procedures around the world and said that the FAA action "completes more than two years of collaboration [with the agency] to develop new rules, processes and oversight mechanisms to certify Naverus development and testing of public procedures in the US."

Jeppesen said it received FAA certification to design, flight validate and maintain public Required Navigation Performance Special Aircrew and Aircraft Authorization Required procedures in the US. As part of the qualification process, Jeppesen designed a public RNP procedure to Runway 28 at Savannah/Hilton Head International. The procedure is expected to be operational in the 2009 fourth quarter.

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