Why Aviation Needs to Transfer to Alternative Fuels

Why American Airlines need to transition to Alternative Fuels

Since the growth rate of travel is increasing along with the rate of petroleum production demand, our aircraft industry must begin to seek out other fuel products that will level out the ratios of these demands. Our entire economy is shifting direction towards everything being more “green” for the sake of prolonged life. Not only should we give an effort for our company to make the transition to alternative fuels for the health of our environment but if we don’t make this switch we could soon run out of the crude oils, fuels and gases that make our country run.

The world’s economic system is dependent on coal, oil and natural gas for approximately 90 percent of the world’s energy supply. In order for us to keep the economy going we have to cut down on our crude oil and fossil fuels usage. The alternative fuel solution is one of many solutions to this problem and will have the largest impact. The graph below shows how much energy is consumed by the US and which resource is used the most. Once we make this switch to alternative fuels we will be able to cut the petroleum consumed in half.

“There has been an increase in concern over degradation of the environment for more than the past two decades and of the various options open to society to reduce the environmental burden, technology is widely considered as the most attractive option.” (Kemp) Our airplanes release hot, wet air from the engine exhaust to form "contrails", which have a warming effect that is much more damaging than carbon dioxide alone. Our average 2 hour flight alone burns over 3,000 lbs. of fuel, hence the reason aircraft exhaust produces more damage than any other source of greenhouse gases. “These alternative fuels produce lower particulate exhaust emissions as well as exhibit excellent low-temperature properties, maintaining a low viscosity at lower ambient temperatures.” (Daggett, Hendricks, Walther, and Corporan, 2008) Being...