Global Warming, Jet-A Prices 'Fueling' Interest in Alternative Gas

Lofting a 500,000-kg jumbo jet into the flight levels on pond scum? Then how about jet fuel refined from an inedible coconut grown in the Brazilian rainforest? Or a previously useless weed that grows in arid regions of the world? As the need to address global warming becomes more widely accepted, all these bio-sources-as well as more conventional ones like maize and sugarcane-are being studied by the aviation and energy industries as alternative sources for liquid hydrocarbons necessary to fuel gas-turbine engines. Spurring this research, as well, are the current escalation of fuel prices, especially in North America, and the widespread conviction that fossil-based oil reserves are declining (i.e., that the world has reached so-called "peak oil"). In addition to reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide (CO2),... [read full story]