Boeing’s biofuel chief speaks out on carbon, costs

Boeing Co.’s Managing Director for Environmental Strategy Billy Glover said that biofuels, algae in particular, can help airlines keep fuel costs down while greatly reducing carbon emissions. “The biofuels that can be available in the next few years will have a 60% lower carbon footprint than fossil fuel,” said Billy Glover, noting that carbon trading schemes will help drive prices down. Given the current low price of oil for airlines to be interested, he said that the highest operating expense for an airline is fuel that is why Boeing is trying to open up alternative fuel and to help the environmental situation as well. In December 2008 and January 2009, there were three test flights in quick succession with a higher blend of biofuel and better performance. He was sure about achieving a bit of technical understanding and qualification. The industry will soon prepare the technical report so they could proceed to fuel specification approval process. And while he is not sure about estimates that the entire global aviation industry could be fueled by an algae culture the size of Belgium needing further research and development work, he said that they are very pleasantly surprised by the innovation and the progress in algae research. (April 15, 2009)