This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Aviation's Fantastical Flight of Fancy
A Royal Society report has poured cold water on UK Aviation's net (jet) zero ambitions. The Aviation industries (plane makers, operators and travel agencies) have claimed for some time, they are working to make flying such that, in the very near future, it will have zero impact on 'greenhouse gas' emissions. This has always seemed unlikely, given the available technologies (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/28/scientists-uk-aviation-net-zero-ambitions-half-farmland-double-renewable-electricity). The Royal Society report concludes, that there is currently no clear sustainable alternative to jet fuel. If UK aviation wished to switch to using biofuels (itself, not exactly carbon zero), 50% of the country's farmland would have to switch to fuel production. Feeding the planes by starving the people? If they decided to focus on electrical engines, the UK would have to double its renewable energy supply. Lights would be going out over the country. Pigs might fly? Some improvements may be possible but what is urgently needed is a reduction in short haul flights.
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Daily shots of my fully compostable Oyster mushroom pot, received for Christmas. Omelettes ahoy!
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