Air travel latest target in climate change fight

Technology, taxation, and rationing are all being eyed as possible solutions.

London – For the hundreds of climate-change activists who’ve camped out by Heathrow Airport this week, there is just one way to reduce aircrafts’ carbon footprint: stop flying.

“Aviation is a luxury we can live without,” says a protester named Merrick. Air travel, he says, is booming, multiplying greenhouse gases just as the climate-change imperative starts to bite. “It has to be scaled right back.”

As protesters plan an unspecified action this Sunday, aircraft engineers, scientists, and climate experts around the world are urgently assessing if technology, taxation, and rationing
Added to this is the complication that aircraft do not just give off carbon dioxide but nitrous oxide, thought to have at least double the impact of CO2, and condensation trails, which also may contribute to global warming.

For some, including President Bush’s senior environmental adviser James Connaughton, the answer lies chiefly with technology. Aircraft manufacturers are constantly improving design of bodywork and engines, deriving greater fuel efficiency that reduces carbon emissions.

A British study group dubbed Omega (Opportunities for Meeting the Environmental Challenge of Growth in Aviation) is looking at a range of technological and other factors, including aircraft design, sustainable fuels, and open rotor-propelled aircraft that reduce fuel burn, to assess how they could mitigate aircraft pollution.

Christian Science Monitor