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Alaska Airlines flies first commercial flight with new biofuel made from forest residuals

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The flight departed Monday morning from Seattle-Tacoma Int'l for Reagan National using a 20% blend of a biofuel developed from the waste typical of lumber and forestry operations, and was sourced entirely from the Pacific Northwest. The biofuel created does not compete with food resources (unlike those developed from soy and corn), and only uses the excess wood waste that would have been burned (adding to atmospheric CO2 levels). (blog.alaskaair.com) Más...

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scott8733
scott8733 1
Maybe we'd be better off with Dr. Brown's 'Mr.Fusion' and use empty beer cans and banana peels, LOL
yr2012
matt jensen 1
Wood chip ethanol
whip5209
Ken McIntyre 5
As long as you get more energy out of burning that fuel in the aircraft than energy it took to make that fuel...
DLipsitz
It uses waste wood that would otherwise simply have been burned to get rid of (not to fuel, for instance, steam powered electric generators), so it is at least being put to a better use. It also doesn't use food products intended originally for human consumptions (feed corn feeds animals we eat, so that one applies).

The energy requirements is a good argument for nuclear power plants to replace oil, gas, and coal, at least until we can domestically create enough solar, wind, and hydro energy power plants to make that option less useful. What to do with the nuclear waste depends upon how quickly we can develop renewable options.
TiredTom
Tom Bruce 1
exact;y... this is BS... use kerosene cheaper, easier, less energy to make
RRKen
Compared to corn ethanol, it takes a bit more energy to produce starches from wood waste. The loss is in the preparation of the waste (drying and grinding for example). Also, there is less value in the byproducts from wood waste as there is from a corn feedstock. Plus the plant in question does not have the economy of scale, and thus it becomes more expensive per gallon. Overall, it would have been cheaper to import ethanol from the Mid-West and convert it to Jet-A.
whip5209
Ken McIntyre 2
Kind of as I expected. "Green energy" isn't always green. But, it looks good to the greenies in Seattle and makes for great positive propaganda.

I guess it's the effort that counts?
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 3
You say "greenies in Seattle" as though that's a bad thing. Baby steps, sir.
TiredTom
Tom Bruce 0

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