Is Sustainable Air Travel Just an Illusion

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 21

Is Sustainable Air Travel An Illusion?

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is episode number 21 called Is Sustainable Air Travel an Illusion?

The first commercial airline flight took off on January 1, 1914. It flew from St Petersburg, Fl to Tampa Bay. It was a flight of 21 miles and took 23 minutes. This flight service only lasted 4 months but it paved the way to the airline industry that we see today. Now, I am sure that when that first flight took off,  carbon emissions were not their first concern. At least not like it is today.

I think we all know that air travel is not going away any time soon. And I think we all know it is one industry that has a significant environmental impact. And as you have no doubt heard me say before, a big part of sustainability is making better choices. That is part of what I want to explore in this episode. First of all to give you some basic idea of the impact of the airline industry. Then to give you some tips on how you can mitigate some of your personal impact. And lastly to talk briefly about exciting changes and new developments that will result in more sustainable air travel. And at the end, I want to share some very interesting facts about modern explorers that are challenging the impossible. 

At the outset of the episode, I want to point out that you could easily argue that there is no such thing as sustainable travel or sustainable tourism. You will always leave a footprint at your destination: from the journey itself, from your waste or from your (unconscious) effect on the local culture. But as I have pointed out before sustainability means making conscious choices, to be mindful of nature, to take the environment into account as much as possible, and to ensure that you have the least possible impact on the local population. You can call it what you want: sustainable travel, responsible travel, conscious travel or travel with a minimal footprint.

I do have to tell you that I love to travel and I always love a good adventure. In fact, when I was in my 20’s I truly wanted to travel but I had no money and the vehicle I had was not very dependable and got about 5 blocks to the gallon so it was even hard for me to go on roads trips. But I did hitch hike a lot and traveled by bus a lot as well. 

But as I got a little older and little more financially stable, I traveled more by air. But this was in the days when airport security was much more relaxed than it is now.  In fact, what I used to do was pack a bag, go to the airport, then walk around and decide where I want to go, then I would purchase a ticket and get on a plane.

I traveled abroad for the first time when I was 31. I went to England and France. Then a few years into my career, I decided I wanted to travel and work. Through all of this, I ended up working and living in several different countries, teaching at a couple of different universities, and at the height of my travels, I was on a plane 57 different times in one year, which is absolutely ridiculous. 

Eventually, I grew weary of all the travel. The world began to change in many ways, there was increase security, restrictions of all sorts, and various other things that really took the fun out of airline travel. Presently, and mostly because of the pandemic, I have not been on a plane in several years. And considering all the global travel restrictions presently in place, I think it may be  another year or so before I consider international travel again. 

And yet, I look at travel much differently these days especially from the aspect of sustainability. I have even completely changed how I work and how I arrange my schedule and I have managed to cut my commuting by about 60%. But sooner or later, I will want to travel abroad again. And because of this, I started questioning the sustainability of air travel and of course the environmental impact. And furthermore, what could I do to minimize my own personal impact.  Additionally, I began to question whether or not sustainable air travel is even even possible?

Now to more or less put things into perspective:

• Each year, 3.5 billion people travel by air. 
• There are more than 100,000 flights made all over the world each day. 
• As the price of airline tickets have dropped, the demand has grown, and this is projected to double by the year 2035
• About 2.5 % of global CO2 emissions are produced by the airline industry. In fact, those emissions have increased by 32% from 2013 to 2018. Flying is number 6 in the top 10 list of things that cause the most carbon emissions.  
• 87% of all human produced carbon dioxide emissions comes from the burning of fossils fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil. 

So, the bad news and the bottom line is that air travel is not clean. So that said, at times you may want or even have to travel by air. So, how do you do that with the least environmental impact. 

Off Setting Your Carbon Emissions

The first thought I want to put in your head, is the concept of off setting your carbon emissions. What I mean by this is doing something that off sets the carbon emissions of your air travel. So here is what I mean by that and allow me to give you a personal example. 

While I was researching some material for a previous podcast episode, I decided to pick apart my own lifestyle to see what sort of environmental impact I was having on the planet. Besides I felt as if I had to make sure I practiced exactly the concepts that I was teaching. 

Turns out that how I live at the homestead produces 80% less environmental impact compared to the average American household. On the other hand, I discovered that I had a huge impact because of all the commuting that I do. But, in many respects, one thing off set the other so in the end I still had considerably less impact than the average American home. But once I realized this I decided to change the way I work and I was able to reduce my commuting by 60%. 

So just for an example, if you had a flight from London to New York City, in order to off set your carbon emissions, you would have to follow a vegan diet for one year. 

There are also what is called carbon compensation services. And speaking of that there is a website that I want you to investigate. I must say that I have not had any personal dealings with this business but I want to mention it anyway because it is a very interesting concept. T

This website called FlyGRN.com

You can go to their website and enter some basic information about your flight plan and click on calculate. It will then give you a dollar amount that you can use to invest in an environmental friendly project in order to off set your carbon emissions.  They also have pages that are dedicated to sustainable travel. 

Now, just for the sake of debate as far as far as carbon off setting is concerned, I also want to give you an alternative point of view. 

Justin Francis, CEO of Responsible Travel said this about carbon off setting:

"Things that sound too good to be true often are too good to be true. When we put carbon into the atmosphere it stays there for decades, hundreds, sometimes thousands of years – we can’t cancel that out with carbon offsetting. It’s a distraction from the real need, which is to reduce the amount of carbon we put into the atmosphere in the first place.”

Now, I must agree he has a good point.  But, I also wanted to introduce this concept to get you to thinking about this idea that we are now a global community in many respects. Which is to say we always have to be thinking about what we are doing and how this affects the rest of the planet. 

Choosing Direct Flights  

One thing that is really easy to do is to try and choose direct flights. When you have connecting flights, you end up traveling further and thus increasing carbon emissions. 

You can also fly economy

According to the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy first-class and business class seats have a much larger carbon footprint than their economy counterparts, up to four times larger per mile.Passengers using more spacious seating are accountable for a greater share of the aircraft’s fuel. If the space taken up by first-class seats was used by economy class seats the number of passengers on the airplane could increase such that each one would be accountable for a smaller share of the total fuel per passenger.

In short, choosing economy class over first or business class equates to more sustainable flying. 

Low-waste flights

If you are going to fly, then look at low waste flights. According to the International Air Transport Association, airline passengers generated over 7.3 millions tons of cabin waste in 2018 alone. And the key culprit is plastic. Think about it: single use plastic cutlery, coffee cups that are not compostable, blankets wrapped in plastic, disposable tooth brushes. 

But the good news is that change is on the way. The airlines called HiFly now runs all of its flight without single-use plastic. Quantas and Air New Zealand has significantly reduced their waste production. 

Airports are also taking steps in this direction. Dubai banned all single use plastics from their cafes and restaurants in 2020. More than half of the airports in India are now plastic free. San Francisco airport aims to become the first zero waste to landfill airport by 2021.

And if you are flying with an airline that has yet to introduce recycling or zero plastic policies then take your own reusable items on board such as bamboo cutlery, head phones, a mug for any drinks.  

Seat selection

Did you know that your seat selection can actually affect the environmental impact of the flight. By choosing a flight with a higher seating capacity, more passengers can fly at once and thus reducing the overall impact of the flight.

Be mindful of what you eat when you travel

It is well known that a meat based diet has a greater environmental impact relative to a vegetarian or vegan diet.  Now I have said before that I have no intention of being a vegetarian or vegan. That said, I do regularly prepare vegetarian meals. But, may I suggest that when you travel, choose a vegetarian meal instead of a meat based meal. This is one simply step toward making your travel is bit more sustainable. 

Pack light

This is a very simply concept. The heavier the plane, the more fuel that is used in order to get you to your destination. So, pack as little as possible. Not to mention the fact that having less baggage will get you in and out of the airport much faster. 

Choose multi-modal travel

Now this is something that I have never even thought about. What I mean by this is to simply use multiple means of getting to your destination. You could potentially take a shorter flight, then use regional travel such as a bus or train to get to your final destination. This way you reduce your air travel. 

Choose a more sustainable airline

You can also choose to fly with an airline that has more sustainable practices such as plastic free flights, use of biofuels, airlines that support carbon off setting measures. But, it is important to know which airlines are taking the right steps toward sustainable travel by minimizing their carbon emissions.  

Fortunately, there are websites such as alternativeairlines.com

that have already done the work for you. This website helps travelers to find the greenest airlines offering sustainable flying options as well as providing information on which are the more environmentally conscious and eco-friendly airports.

Alternative Airlines has compiled a list of 20 ‘green’ airlines which are praised for their commitment to reducing CO₂ emissions per flight. And these airlines engage in practices such as carbon offsetting on behalf of their customers, recycling or plastic-free programs, investment in fuel efficiency and sustainable fuel sources, 'Greener Skies' technology to cut fuel consumption such as single engine taxiing, ground based electric equipment, and plane modifications that reduce fuel consumption. 

Avoid air travel as much as possible. 

But, you can also choose to travel by another means. For example, traveling by train or bus can save up to 90% in CO2 emissions.

So, what exactly is the bottom line here. The simple fact is that airline travel produces a large environmental impact. Airline travel in and of itself is not sustainable.  But, there are things that you can do to decrease your personal impact. 

• Engage in strategies to off set your carbon emissions
• Choose direct flights
• Choose low waste flights
• Fly economy
• Be careful with your seat selection
• Be mindful of what you eat
• Remember to pack light
• Considering using multi-modal travel
• Choose a more sustainable airline
• Avoid air travel as much as possible by choosing an alternative means of travel if available. 

Now, all of this being said, I want to take a little bit of time here and talk about some positive things that the airline industry is doing. In fact, many of you may not even know about some of these things. 

Electric planes

Electric planes offer a cheaper, cleaner, and quieter way to fly. In fact, electric planes have the potential to transform the way we travel and can dramatically reduce emissions from the airline industry. However, there are challenges with the use of electric planes and thus they cannot be used for longer flights.

The biggest challenge is that the batteries are simply too heavy.  

Per kilogram, jet fuel contains around 30 times more energy than the best lithium-ion battery on the market – which means you need a lot of them on board. Conventional planes get lighter as they burn fuel and thus decreasing energy needs over the course of the flight. Batteries do not do this. So, until this energy density problem is solved, seating capacity and flight range on electric aircraft will remain limited.

But I am excited to tell you that the world’s first all electric commercial plane was unveiled in Paris in June 2019. The air craft is called Alice. It can carry 9 passengers up to 650 miles at 10,000 ft, travels 276 mph, and all on a single charged battery. 

For the sake of comparison, the fossil fuel costs of small aircraft is about $400 per 100 miles. For Alice, the costs are projected to be as little as $8 for the same distance. And if the electricity were derived from renewable energy, then the plane has zero carbon impact. 

One other bit of good news, is that until electric planes become more feasible, there are hybrid planes, which reduce emissions by combining conventional fossil-fuel powered engines and electric motors. Eventually, these could become the norm.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

The use of sustainable aviation fuel is an immediate method for reducing aviation emissions. SAF is made from crops, vegetable oils, wood chips or household waste.  So what this means is that SAF is made from materials that have already absorbed greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and it replaces the use of fossil fuels. Although the burning of SAF in flight produces emissions just like standard jet fuel, overall the CO2 emissions are reduced by around 80%. And the best part is that SAF is a high quality fuel that can be used with that same engines. So, it is not necessary to develop any sort of new technology. 

But, despite these benefits, of the 96 billion US gallons of jet fuel used globally in 2019, less than 1% were SAF. Unfortunately, SAF is more expensive to produce than standard jet fuel and it is available only in small quantities. 

But, let’s also talk about some positive things here. The simple fact is that consumers, the airline industry, and technological innovation all play an important part in moving aviation into a sustainable future.

First of all, the aviation industry itself has made sweeping changes. For example, the invention of the turbofan in 1970 contributed to a drastic drop in fuel consumption. Placing what is called winglets on planes reduces wing drag and has decreased fuel consumption by at least 6%. Various other innovations have resulted in a 5 fold reduction in fuel consumption. Also the airline industry is working to make planes even lighter and are even starting to use more electricity at airports for various things instead of jet fuel. 

Now for an interesting fact.

And this is something that you can easily find on the internet and will provide some interesting reading.  

There is a Swiss project called Solar Impulse, which is a long-range experimental solar powered aircraft project. This privately financed project was led by a Swiss engineer and businessman Andre Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist named Bertrand Piccard.  The goal of their project was to circumnavigate the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power. And by doing so, to bring attention to clean technologies.  

The Solar Impulse 1 was designed to stay up for 36 hours. The team completed numerous long distance flights. A second aircraft, the Solar Impulse 2, was competed in 2014. This aircraft completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed wing aircraft using only solar power in July 2016. 

Personally, I think the efforts of such extraordinary individuals such as these men, show that we can challenge the impossible. I know that many of us would agree that we live in some exceptional times and we have some significant challenges ahead of us that we must tackle in order to ensure a sustainable future for our planet. But it is not impossible. 

I would like to conclude this episode with a quote from Aristotle: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. 

The same goes for sustainability, which is often times about making better choices and doing things differently. We must do it repeatedly until it results in excellence.  

This is your host Patrick, signing off until next week. Have a fantastic day and always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.