Environmental impact of aviation

[PilotDAR]

Unfortunately, a single volcanic eruption the size of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption would negate all the of G12's efforts in CO2 and hydrocarbon emssion reductions for several years.

Very true. But, we can control what we emit, and be conscious of what we do so as to reduce the effect. A new generation of voters is coming, and they are putting the human effects on the climate as one of their priorities. Whether what we are doing has a major, or minor effect, it's still an effect, and this next generation of voters will change what we do. If they are willing to forever deny themselves the pleasure of a nice steak because of the minuscule effect of than cow on the environment, they will sure as heck deny us wasting gasoline is recreational airplanes!

Don't let reality and facts get in the way of a good cause.....

[jakeandelwood]

This global warming bit is getting to be a bit odd, we can barely predict the weather next week but we can predict a 3 degree temperature rise in 50 years? I'm from B.C. and I've never seen a shorter, colder and wetter summer than this last one, isn't it snowing in Calgary today? If this global warming is really happening and it's caused by humans maybe the fact that our population is completely out of control is a major factor, but hey if you want to listen to a tween named "Greta" tell you that you're "destroying the planet and her future" by flying around for a couple of hours in your Cessna 150 on a summer sunday then let's all get in line.

You seem threatened. Wake up, educate yourself, 'Climate change', again as the name suggests, refers to the changes in the global climate which result from the increasing average global temperature. Human greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming, which in turn is causing climate change, exactly what you have experienced this weekend. The fact of the matter is, putting an airplane in the sky today is harmful, however, as tubkel stated, being aware of that and consciously trying to make choices that mitigate other aspects of the job's impact can be done. Personally, jet fuel will be a thing of the past if not sooner than later, some sort of biofuel or fusion will be introduced. A net zero industry is what we should be working towards, and we can all do our part today in achieving that. Raise awareness, start talking about it, get]

I'm already being the change. The great Greta has already said the 3 steps to saving the planet are merely 1-no air travel, 2-become a vegan, and 3-vote. Really? I didn't fly yesterday, ate Kraft dinner (vegan butter of course) and I'm going to vote, I'm on my way to saving the planet! Seriously though educate yourself on the population problem we have on this planet right now, sure planes and cars are way more fuel efficient now but there is hundreds of times more so we are not "getting there". A "net zero industry

[jakeandelwood]

Unfortunately, a single volcanic eruption the size of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption would negate all the of G12's efforts in CO2 and hydrocarbon emssion reductions for several years.

Very true. But, we can control what we emit, and be conscious of what we do so as to reduce the effect. A new generation of voters is coming, and they are putting the human effects on the climate as one of their priorities. Whether what we are doing has a major, or minor effect, it's still an effect, and this next generation of voters will change what we do. If they are willing to forever deny themselves the pleasure of a nice steak because of the minuscule effect of than cow on the environment, they will sure as heck deny us wasting gasoline is recreational airplanes!

Don't let reality and facts get in the way of a good cause.....

Well that gas for our recreational airplanes comes from the same place as the gas for Mommy's trendy F150 V8 4x4 that is used to drive these little soon to be voters to school everyday because they refuse to ride their bikes.

[mixturerich]

People need to stop making so many babies, stop eating beef, and carpool if we want any hope of saving this planet.

[propfeather]

https://www.snopes.com/collections/clim ... -debunked/
I'll just leave this here..

I totally agree that Canada's carbon tax isn't going to do squat and putting the (any) government in charge of fixing this seems like the least effective way to deal with the issue. There's lots of bias and plenty of misguided information on both sides which completely erodes their respective arguments.
But, this is a very real issue. Peer reviewed studies are peer reviewed for a reason. Whether or not humans can come back from this point is debatable but we owe it to our species to try.

[Squaretail]

You guys have to look at the bright side of things. For example, part of Transport Canada's mandate is now to promote "environmentally responsible" transportation, so any time they ask you to add more paper to your existing procedures, you can argue that would go against their mandate.

[goingnowherefast]

I drive generally pretty slow, turn the thermostat down a bit in the winter, turn the AC off and open some windows in the summer. I'm seriously considering my next car being electric (electricity in my area is generated by a hydroelectric dam and solar). I have a manual push mower and electric weed wipper instead of the gas versions.

At work, I fly slower when I can, all the way back to max range cruise. It actually saves a substantial amount of fuel.

Ever weekend warrior lucky enough to have their own 172 (or 180hp Super Cub), do they really need to fly along at 75%, or is it still fun to dial the power back to 55% and save some avgas?
Add some wheel pants to the 172, add a few mph to cruise speed for a more efficient plane. Wash it often, keep the paint in good condition, mindful of anything that causes drag because it decreases efficiency and burns more fuel. Do you really need the 180hp mod, or is the 150/160hp engine good enough?

Instead of renting the Aztec for the multi rating, is a Seminole going to work? 2x250hp burns a lot more fuel than 2x180hp.

Have fun and enjoy life, but also ask yourself if there is a way to have just as much fun using less fuel or electricity.

[rookiepilot]

Plant. A. Tree.

Pretty to look at. Good for the air. Provides shade.

10 fold my carbon taxes. Cut my income taxes. I'm in. Tax consumption. Not productivity.

Will make the roads less crowded too.

The answer is obvious, and that's to "go Europe". More trains, less roads.

What bothers me is the people loudest about climate change have the biggest footprint.

You're not special, someone should say.

[PilotDAR]

Plant. A. Tree.

Yeah, I have about 60 acres of them, up from the 30 acres of trees when I bought the property 30 years ago. I feel guilty cutting a few down, but they are encroaching on my runway!

dial the power back to 55% and save some avgas?

Yup, 'did that today; 22" 2100 RPM, 28 LPH all the way home in the amhib, no hurry what so ever!

[C-GGGQ]

That's why people always say Navajos are slow. We're way back at 55-60%

[jakeandelwood]

Give people a tax rebate to not have kids, not the reverse. Offering people money to do something or at least think about it always works.

[RILEY]

It’s just a scam by the left designed to raise taxes. If Trudeau was serious about reducing carbon emissions then he would pass a law to reduce carbon emissions(less driving/flying/shipping/ trains allowed). Instead, he raises taxes and there is just as much driving/flying/shipping/train activity. Result....same/similar carbon emissions and higher taxes. How can people not see a scam when it is obvious.

Last time I checked this was a global scale issue, didn't know leftist Trudeau's were the source of the problem.

[RILEY]

Climate change is a reality. I have observed it as a long time observer of the weather I'm trying to fly in, and the two polar research airplanes whose system installations I approve to measure it have proven it to me objectively. I see that in the last 12 years since I have been approving the climate measuring equipment, that the climate has changed.

I'm not a chemist, nor meteorologist, so I'm not asserting why the climate is changing, I just observe that it is. I can understand how low lying populated areas feel threatened, having worked in the Malidves, among other low lying places (though the Dutch and Germans seem to have secured their lowlands against sea level rise, and storm surges).

In the mean time we humans, though perhaps only a portion of the cause, cannot declare being blameless either. We waste monumental amounts of fuel (and thus wasteful carbon emissions) doing things just to save a buck. When I purposefully selected a "product of Canada" wood flooring for my house, I intended to provide work for fellow Canadians, while buying Canadian resources. I later found that the near half ton of BC native wood flooring I bought was indeed a "product of the Canada", but the labour was not. The plants were shipped to China, milled and finished, and shipped back to BC. I was angry, my house floors have a needless carbon footprint - I would have paid the extra to keep the work in Canada, and prevent the carbon emissions, if I'd known that the product of Canada was really not the labour, and the carbon footprint of that half ton of wood.

Is flying my Cessna an hour less a week going to affect climate change? Not really. But the mindset of conserving rather than being wasteful is a start. As I mentored a young lady in her family 180HP PA-18 a few years back, I told her: "Enjoy this now, because by the time you're my age, society will not tolerate people burning 8 gallons per hour of leaded gasoline to go 90 MPH." We, in GA, are happily not in the sights of the environmentalists. But when they feel that they have "fixed" the other climate offenders, they will then set their sights on us. It would be wise in the mean time to think conservation and awareness anywhere we can. Yes, one day, electric planes will have some limited practicality - if we can afford them!

So let's at least act like we care about the environment we fly over, and appear to take some responsibility for minimizing our footprint. It can't hurt....

+1

[digits_]

Give people a tax rebate to not have kids, not the reverse. Offering people money to do something or at least think about it always works.

Best thing to do for humanity! Most problems humanity is facing, have their roots in overpopulation.

Have fun and enjoy life, but also ask yourself if there is a way to have just as much fun using less fuel or electricity.

I agree with the less fuel, but not with the less electricity. There are already solutions for the electricity problem: nuclear power. It's clean albeit with a manageable toxic waste. No need to save on electricity, it is perfectly solveable with today's technology. It's just a matter of funding and government policies.

Fuel: not everything we are doing today with fuel has alternative solutions available. So yes, saving fuel is important.
Here's a free tip to make cars consume 5% less fuel: get rid of all those bloody stop signs! Look at Europe: yield signs are common, stop signs are rare. You don't have to stop at every intersection if you have proper rules in place and people know how to drive.

[iflyforpie]

For light general aviation, the biggest thing will be the swap to electric. Aircraft light piston engines can’t be modified for catalytic converters, EGRs, EVAP canisters, PCVs, etc without massive weight penalties and safety concerns. Electric will eventually come down and be to the point where it’s suitable for 90% of light GA activity. Kind of like the electric car is now buy people drive gas because of the three times a year they go on a 1000km journey (the light aircraft is going to Oshkosh one day but never goes more than 100 NM away from base in many cases). Electric will show up in ultralights, self-launching gliders, motor gliders, and go from there.

For airlines, electric is a very long way off for powering large aircraft, but huge savings can be made on the ground. I’m surprised that in a place like YVR they don’t have shore power like they do at the cruise ship terminals... as APUs running for hours is a huge source of pollution. Likewise, Airbus I believe was testing electric motors for taxiing that can also be used for dynamic braking to save idling waiting for takeoff which is also a huge source of aircraft emissions.

[digits_]

High end aerobatic aircraft would probably be the first to be equipped with electric motors. Short flights and more performance, what's not to like?

[Helno]

For airlines, electric is a very long way off for powering large aircraft

Airliners are much easier to switch over to carbon neutral fuels since gas turbines can run on just about any hydrocarbon in liquid or gaseous form.

No reason long haul flights could not be run on whatever biofuel ends up being cheapest.

[altiplano]

But that's not carbon neutral... it's still burning.

Biofuels largely waste cultivatable land and water to produce in a period of scarcity of both.

[Helno]

Biofuels are carbon neutral even though they involve combustion because the growing feedstock consumes CO2. Burning wood is an inefficient way to produce heat but it is carbon neutral with properly managed forests.

It is only considered a waste because there are cheaper fuels available. That will not be true forever.

[iflyforpie]

But that's not carbon neutral... it's still burning.

Biofuels largely waste cultivatable land and water to produce in a period of scarcity of both.

It’s carbon neutral because it is not introducing any new carbon into the carbon cycle.

Think of it like the water cycle. There’s 30 million cubic kilometres of water in Antarctica. But Antarctica is a desert because that water has no way of melting an evaporating and returning as rain as well as significantly affecting the local weather patterns.

That’s why planting trees to get rid of carbon is bunk. Trees will absorb carbon, but they also emit carbon when they die or seasonally with falling leaves. They won’t get rid of the excess carbon that has been buried and made effectively inert by things like volcanoes and sediment but brought up and released into the atmosphere at industrial rates.

More carbon means more plants grow meaning more carbon gets absorbed but also more carbon gets released through decay.

And as far as biofuels go... there’s plenty of land that will support biofuel that won’t support crops or livestock. Gasification of wood slash or hog fuel is one example.