The USDA last week announced it is extending for five years its agreement to work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing and other partners to help develop a viable biofuel for the aviation industry.
The renewed program focuses on future goals — such as designating personnel, evaluating current and potential feedstock types and systems, developing multiple feedstock supply chains, developing state and local public-private teams, communicating results and issuing periodic reports.
The new agreement also includes partners from the commercial aviation sector and follows the initial success of the 2010-2012 “Farm to Fly” initiative, an agreement signed by the USDA, Airlines for America and Boeing that promoted the commercial-scale production of sustainable feedstocks and the development of aviation biofuel production and distribution facilities. Under this partnership, the agencies have combined their experience in research, policy analysis and air transportation to explore the different kinds of feedstocks that could be processed by bio-refineries to produce jet fuels.
The federal government and its partners hope to support the annual production of 1 billion gallons of aviation biofuel by 2018.
“Through the use of sustainable alternative jet fuels, we are showing the world that we can come together to solve our greatest environmental challenges," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "In his State of the Union Address, President Obama called on us to work together to reduce carbon emissions — developing these alternative jet fuels will do just that, while creating jobs and helping airlines save money on fuel.”
Biofuels have been taking off in the airline industry. In March, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said it will begin operating weekly transatlantic flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol using a biofuel mixture consisting of 25 percent cooking oil and 75 percent jet fuel. Last year, British Airways agreed to purchase $500 million worth of sustainable jet fuel as part of its GreenSky London Initiative. The program was created by the airline in partnership with Solena Group, a U.S.-based biofuel manufacturer, to annually convert approximately 500,000 tons of landfill waste into 50,000 tons of low-carbon jet fuel, 50,000 tons of biodiesel, bionaptha and renewable energy.
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Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Apr 23, 2013 1am EDT / 10pm PDT / 6am BST / 7am CEST