air travel
On November 4, Californians voted in favor of a new high speed rail system that will carry passengers the 800 miles from Sacramento to San Diego. Since, according to the High Speed Rail Authority, California is the 12th largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world and transportation accounts for 41 percent of those emissions, this news is very exciting.
The propeller engine led aviation to some of its greatest early achievements, but the noisy engine was quickly replaced by the quieter, fuel-guzzling turbojet engines primarily used today. But now that fuel costs are much higher and airlines are feeling the pressure to green-up, Rolls-Royce has redesigned the historic technology to be quieter and more energy efficient.
The propeller engine led aviation to some of its greatest early achievements, but the noisy engine was quickly replaced by the quieter, fuel-guzzling turbojet engines primarily used today. But now that fuel costs are much higher and airlines are feeling the pressure to green-up, Rolls-Royce has redesigned the historic technology to be quieter and more energy efficient.
Recent market moves suggest that counting mobile minutes used could go the way of the oversized car phones that laid the foundation for today's wireless revolution.
Following in the footsteps of Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel, Virgin Mobile USA is the latest wireless carrier to adopt an unlimited pricing plan. Citing the rising cost of gas, air travel, and other items, Virgin unveiled its Totally Unlimited calling plan for $79.99 a month on Tuesday.
You think you hate sitting on the runway couped up in a plane that seems to be going nowhere. Well, the airlines (and the planet) hates it too. In 2007 $1.6 billion of jet fuel was burned by planes waiting in line to take off at airports. That's 740 million gallons of fuel.
And from the perspective of climate change 7.1 million metric tons of CO2.
You think you hate sitting on the runway couped up in a plane that seems to be going nowhere. Well, the airlines (and the planet) hates it too. In 2007 $1.6 billion of jet fuel was burned by planes waiting in line to take off at airports. That's 740 million gallons of fuel.
And from the perspective of climate change 7.1 million metric tons of CO2.
The last barrier to greener transportation is up in the air and if these newly designed planes can get up there, the future of air travel may look decidedly different. While cars have been going green for decades, airplanes have remained behemoth fuel-gulping modes of transportation. EcoGeek put together a list of ways in which air travel is gretting greener...but there's a long ways to go.