Soon, United Airlines will start flying planes using biofuel made from farm waste and animal fats, the New York Timesreports. Later this summer, United will use a mix of biofuel and traditional jet fuel to power a flight traveling from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It's a short distance, for sure—but the new measure represents a monumental step. According to the NYT, this will be the first time an American airline uses an alternative fuel source to fly a regular passenger flight.
After that first flight (which will use 30 percent biofuel made from farm waste and animal fats, and 70 percent regular jet fuel), the airline will fly four or five flights a day for the next two weeks using the same mix of fuels. After that, the biofuel will be mixed into the airline's main supply.
On top of that, United announced that they are investing $30 million in Fulcrum BioEnergy, a major aviation biofuel producer. The amount of fuel that United is planning to buy from Fulcrum is "a small drop" in its ginormous fuel consumption, the NYT points out, but adopting Fulcrum's technology could lead to an 80 percent drop in carbon emissions. That's huge considering the Obama administration has been putting more and more pressure on airlines to reduce their carbon footprints.
[via the NYT]
