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Aviation Provisions in the Pending Cap and Trade Legislation
On May 21, 2009, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed by a vote of 33 to 25 HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). The bill, which establishes a "cap and trade" policy for the US, now goes to the full house for discussion, amendments, and vote. The general features of this 932-page bill have been widely reported elsewhere, however some of its provisions impacting general aviation merit highlighting. · Managing emissions from mobile sources. Most countries that have been working with the rules of the Kyoto Protocol, have developed policies and regulations that directly regulate the CO2 that comes out of the "tailpipe". ACES takes a different approach by regulating the carbon content of the fuel going into the engine. Since virtually all of the carbon in a fuel is converted to CO2, one might ask "What's the difference?". Answer: The US approach shifts the primary responsibility for the amount of CO2 emitted to the fuel producer instead of the fuel consumer. By shifting the responsibility to the fuel producer (e.g., oil companies), an incentive is created to develop alternative fuels that emit less CO2 over their lifecycle (so-called "well to wheel"). Of course, the fuel producer will simply pass through to the consumer any cost associated with reducing the carbon content of the fuel however this is accomplished, whether by offsets, blended biofuels, or other techniques. Furthermore, this increased cost to the consumer is viewed as creating the economic incentive to improve engine efficiency or otherwise reduce consumption. This approach is more like a "carbon tax" than other approaches might be, but it is more hidden from the consumer (airplane owner). Note that in the early years of the program, fuel providers will be provided "allowances" for the carbon in their fuels and most of these allowances will be given away at no cost. Over time, these allowances will be reduced ("cap") and providers will need to buy from others their unused allowances ("trade") or corresponding offsets. · Offsets. Offsets play a central role in ACES, so the bill goes to great lengths to establish standards and polices to ensure their efficacy and credibility. In an earlier draft of the bill, allowances and offsets were not treated equally, as 5 pounds of offsets were equivalent to 4 pounds of allowances. In the current bill offsets and allowances are equivalent until 2017. Both domestic and foreign offsets will be permitted, subject to established standards. There is a cap on the total number of offsets that are permitted (2 billion MT per year) so energy users (and the whole economy) will be forced to improve efficiency and not rely solely on offsets. Subject to how well these provisions are actually implemented, offsets should gain public credibility and the offset industry of projects, developers, traders, and buyers should substantially grow. · Aircraft fuel efficiency. One provision (Title II, Subtitle C, Section C, Part B, Section 821, c, (1) and (2)) of ACES gives power to the Administrator of the EPA to set standards for the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from new aircraft and new aircraft engines by the end of 2012. These standards are to "achieve the greatest degree of emissions reduction achievable based on the application of technology which the Administrator determines will be available at the time such standards take effect, taking into consideration cost, energy and safety". Depending on how this authority is exercised, the government could be taking a major role in designing our future airplanes!
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News from the US 
In time for Earth Day 2009, Fred Smith, CEO of FedEx, announced the "30 by 30" program which commits his fleet of freight hauling planes to meet 30% of its fuel requirements from biofuels by 2030. This goal is on top of his firm's earlier goal to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020, primarily through replacing older, less efficient aircraft with newer, more efficient ones. In his announcement, the FedEx chairman emphasized the importance continued federal financial support for alternative fuels that can be derived from non-food sources. NASA has announced that it is initiating the Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project with a budget of $62.4 million for FY2010. The goal of this program will be to create a development road map that can lead to efficiency improvements of 40 to 50% in commercial airliners. Promising technologies, according to NASA include blending wing/body designs for airframes and ultra-high-bypass and open rotor engines. Over five years, the budget for this program would total $318 million. This compares to a joint industry/government program within the European Union, the Clean Skies Program, that is funded to a level of $2.18 billion over seven years. |
News from Overseas 
The European Union continues to move forward with its plan to include operators of corporate aircraft into its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). These rules would require covered operators to purchase ETS-compliance offsets, unless they go through an evolving system to report and monitor emissions and, perhaps, receive limited allocations. While there are exemptions for operators of smaller planes (less than 12,566 lbs) and infrequent European trips, many US corporate operators could find themselves impacted by these rules. An comprehensive summary of these rules can be found on the NBAA website. The Group on International Aviation and Climate Change (GIACC), composed of 15 members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), met in Montreal in late May. The background papers and presentations, which represent a wealth of information on the environmental impacts of aviation (mostly scheduled, commercial aviation), can be downloaded from the ICAO website. |
Aviation Technology 
Electric propulsion In late April, the CAFE Foundation held its 3rd annual Electric Aircraft Symposium. This year, over 200 enthusiastic people attended the San Carlos, CA conference. A variety of papers were presented covering virtually every topic related to electric aircraft, including batteries, electric motors, electronic controllers, power conditioning, and airframe design. The take away by this attendee is that there is a lot of creativity being applied to electric airplane concepts. Just as with electric cars, the key issue with airplanes is batteries: energy capacity and power output per unit weight. As with cars, there might be a market niche where a plane with "limited" speed, range, and capacity can be successful. Just as there can be a market for a small, limited range car for urban use, so might there be a market for a small (one or two seater) airplane for Sunday short distance hops. One example of such a niche would be a sailplane with an electric launch engine. Windward Performance discussed one such concept. However, without unexpected breakthroughs in batteries or fuel cells, it would seem like it will be a long time before we see an electric propulsion system that can power the benchmark 4-passenger, 200mph GA airplane. Furthermore, as with cars, it will be very challenging to evolve a charging infrastructure for electric planes. What FBO will want to spend thousands of dollars to put in a high capacity recharging station that would, for years, only be used by the few "pioneering" planes passing through, each buying a few dollars of electricity? Biofuels The momentum behind aviation biofuels (at least a JetA replacement) continues to build. There are several reasons for this. · The ACES bill, as discussed above, places much of the burden of reducing GHG on fuel providers. This places the economic incentive on them to develop biofuels as aggressively as possible. · As witnessed by the experience of the automotive executives testifying before Congress, air travel, especially that done in corporate private jets, is a highly visible. The airlines, aircraft manufacturers, and the travel industry all realize that they must make near-term, measurable progress to reduce their carbon emissions if they are to avoid the fate of the automotive executives. Assuming a "drop in fuel" (the focus of virtually all the current attention) reducing GHG from the fuel life cycle can yield quicker results, since it does not require changes in the aircraft fleet. · Alternative fuel developers are realizing that there are several characteristics of the aviation fuel market that might make it easier to develop quickly than the automotive fuel market, such as fewer delivery points and more predicable demand. · Some JetA users might pay a premium for biofuels due to security issues (e.g., the Department of Defense) or public relations considerations (e.g., some airlines). · Some JetA replacement fuels, even while being "drop in", might be superior to petroleum-based fuel, particularly with regard to emissions of small particulates. There is concern that small particulates could come under increased scrutiny by regulators due to their associated health risks. · Our understanding of the environmental impacts of producing biofuels is improving so that it should be possible to develop an aviation biofuels industry, based on non-food feedstock, without the negative environmental fallout experienced by the corn-based ethanol industry. Taking a leadership role in the development of a JetA replacement is the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative ( CAAFI). This coordinating organization has over 300 sponsors and stakeholders from around the world representing the aerospace industry (including engine and airframe manufacturers), government agencies (including the FAA, DOD, NASA, DOE, DARPA), fuel suppliers (oil companies, bio-fuel developers), fuel users (airlines, fractional jet programs), numerous aviation-related trade associations (ATA, airport representatives) and researchers (universities and consultants). We're pleased that Carbon Neutral Plane was recently invited to join as a stakeholder to contribute to the CAAFI Business Team. Given the complexity of the challenge, it seems that the focus and cooperation found within in this organization is driving progress at a surprisingly rapid rate. | |
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Carbon Neutral Plane in the News
In its April 20, 2009 issue, Aviation Week and Space Technology published a letter to the editor from Carbon Neutral Plane commenting on the role of offsets in meeting GHG reduction goals.
Send your comments and suggestions to:
newsletter@
carbonneutralplane.com
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