Could this personal helicopter represent a cleaner, greener future for the aviation industry?

There’s almost nothing eco-friendly about flying (bad news with the holidays coming up, I know). And that’s with planes full with more than 100 people all flying together. When you get to the realm of private jets and personal helicopters, the green factor plummets even further.

Despite the shocking amount of fossil fuel it takes to move even a small plane through the air, people aren’t going to stop flying any time soon. So the aviation industry has been working on alternative fuels and smarter designs that will allow flying to be as efficient as possible.

According to a German company called E-Volo, the future of efficient transportation might not be planes, but helicopters. The team recently unveiled the Volocopter, a personal helicopter they say is safer, simpler, and cleaner than normal helicopters because of the unique way it moves through the air: instead of one combustion engine, Volocopter uses 18 electrically driven rotors to propel itself through the atmosphere with zero emissions (technically this makes it an octodecacopter, but who’s counting?).

“For power, six battery blocks power the rotor drives for about twenty minutes of emission-free flight time, with an hour anticipated in the future,” reports Gizmag. “E-volo emphasizes the redundancies in the battery system. Each rotor arm is powered by three batteries, so two nonadjacent batteries could fail and the Volocopter could still land safely. In even more dire straits, a ballistic separation system deploys a parachute.”

“Rich and incredibly quiet sound, absolutely no noticeable vibrations in the flight, convincing structure with a great, new spring strut landing gear, and an extremely calm rotor plane,” concluded E-volo’s managing director after one of several successful test flights. Such vibrations, in addition to a high level of external noise, have discouraged people from utilizing helicopters.

Due to elaborate simulations at the Stuttgart University, they already knew that the Volocopter was much more quiet than a helicopter. However, the pleasant low, rich sound and the lower-than-expected noise level caused great cheering among the E-volo team during the first flights.

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Image: E-Volo

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You want to get away, let’s say to sparkly Laguna Beach for a long weekend, and you don’t want to board your doggy at a kennel. You learn from an agent you can carry your buddy on board the cabin, in a small, vinyl container, with his temper and vaccine papers in tow while resting by your feet in the leg room area. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Mr. Jones gets to come with us to see the ocean!

You nab him a room with a view which he enjoys immensely, especially manning the deck and barking uncontrollably at simple Sally, the shaggy dog on the neighboring terrace. Her parents are suckers, too. They also threw the airlines a big bone.

Yes, united we stand on pet love, and United we flew to Orange County with our pug, whose one-way ticket at $150 cost more than my own. Put two and two together: Our pets are ridiculously cute and love us. The airlines are fighting like Pit Bulls to hang on amid the soaring price of fuel – hence the $7 sandwiches and $29 fee per checked bag.

It all adds up to Carry-On Pet Gouging, the latest new trick as carriers that once accepted ginormous footlockers, golf clubs and crates of pineapples for free, now charge for irresistible extras to bleed a needy consumer base.

Frontier Airlines has announced a pet passenger program inviting us to bring small dogs, cats, bunnies, hamsters and small birdies for $75 each way. Come on. I can see taking Smokey on a trip but $75 for a hamster? That’s messed up.

Would I pay to fly Mr. Jones, again? Probably. I paid $50 to Southwest this summer when my daughter’s camp duffel bag exceed the weight limit. I was broken down from having lost the battle to convince my teen that less is more, and that dirty is the new black at summer camp. But we must ask ourselves, when do we shout “UNCLE?” (as in Uncle Sam, you screwed up so bad, now we must pay the crazy price).

Additional ad-ons witnessed: An extra seat for the obese and their over spill (price of a ticket); Parents of unaccompanied children ($39 to $100); Headphones ($5); Curbside check-ins ($2 to $3 per bag); Desirable Seat Assignment ($5 to $35). Drinks, snack boxes and sandwiches ($3 to $10). Yes, the flight crew will take plastic for the extras. The goal is to get you to check less and reduce cargo weight while spending more on amusements and upgrades. On Alaska Air, you can even get bumped up to first class at the last minute for $50 more.

Where will it end? Some say with no check ins at all, and perhaps just one small carry on with the bare essentials. For many, that could very well be their Mr. Jones. If you believe the Beatles, all we need is love. That, and perhaps a toothbrush, a laptop and some clean underwear.

Images: Lisa Sunde Photography, Luanne Bradley

The post Flying’s for the Dogs! But Bring Petty Cash for the Tickets appeared first on EcoSalon.

On a recent holiday weekend flight between two West Coast cities, I thought about the thoughtful and harmful things my travel companion and I had done in regards to the environment the day we traveled. We’d recycled, turned down our thermostats, and taken public transportation to San Francisco International Airport (whose low-flow toilets and green rental car program get industry kudos). But we also threw out Styrofoam cups, idled on a runway while our plane wasted fuel, and were picked up in an SUV. Could we have been more conscientious about the effect our travel choices have on the planet?

It’s no surprise that flights were the most negatively impactful part of our trip. Fortunately, research into more efficient engines and alternative fuels has been promising in the past few years, and travelers now face more options when it comes to choosing airlines with sustainable business practices. Although major policy and research decisions on air travel efficiency are out of the hands of most consumers, we can positively impact where the industry is headed through our choice of carriers.

Green Good Deeds: Choosing Airlines Beyond Fares

A few airlines have demonstrated leadership and commitment to eco-friendlier travel through their use of alternative fuels over long distance flights and willingness to work with one another. Some have also made a splash with their research and use of sustainable biofuels-fuels made from biological material high in sugar and oil-that are different from the fossil fuels currently being tapped out. The Central American airline NatureAir, the first certified carbon-neutral airline, runs its ground vans with biofuel created from cooking oil to protect forests in Southern Costa Rica where it operates.

Although foreign airlines have received the most media attention for green good deeds (for example, British Airways’ sustainable biofuel research partnership with engine maker Rolls Royce and Emirates Airline’s longest green flight between San Francisco and Dubai), several domestic carriers deserve a nod for their environmental efforts.

Southwest Airlines

After working to save $42 million in fuel in 2008 by extending each flight by one to three minutes (slowing down improves engine efficiency and ultimately saves fuel, just like it does for drivers), Southwest’s cross-departmental green team pushed for more environmental and profit-friendly innovation by introducing employee ride-share programs on the ground and adding winglets to the end of plane wings to save nearly 30 million gallons of jet fuel annually. As part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Blue Skyways Collaborative, the airline also works to voluntarily reduce its emissions and share technological expertise with other service companies.

Virgin America

The new kid on the block has the youngest fleet among major U.S. airlines, making it an estimated 30 percent more carbon- and fuel-efficient than other carriers. In the style of other Virgin Group companies (including Virgin Atlantic, whose London to Amsterdam flight powered by a biofuel combination of babassu and coconut oil gained public attention last year), a portion of the domestic airline’s profits go into renewable fuel research. Virgin America also uses single-engine taxiing and cruise speed regulation on every flight to reduce climate change impact.

Alaska Airlines

This airline makes corporate gifts to the Nature Conservancy and started a Green Miles nonprofit program so that customers could support the organization’s efforts to conserve the Pacific Northwest by donating miles they’ve earned. Onboard, Alaska recycles in-flight magazines printed with soy-based inks as well as bottles of the socially conscious Jones Soda that the airline serves instead of major cola products.

American Airlines

In April, responsible travel news provider TerraCurve reported that American Airlines is flying the first of the nearly eighty more efficient Boeing 737-800 planes it will be adding over the next two years. Each new plane will burn about 28 percent less fuel per mile than current planes.

American Airlines also was the first major airline to join the EPA’s Climate Leaders program, of which Virgin America is the only other participating airline and Boeing is the only aerospace member. Companies in the industry-government partnership commit to reduce their environmental impact by completing inventories of their greenhouse gas emissions and by setting reduction goals. All members agree to report their progress to the EPA annually. American has committed to a 30 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas-intensity ratio by 2025.

Virgin’s greenhouse gas reduction goals are still said to be being developed, and the airline is the first to commit to report its emissions to the nonprofit Climate Registry.

These days, we don’t have to dive into aviation industry communications to make savvy travel choices; more lifestyle news outlets have begun covering the topic due to increased consumer interest in eco and cost-saving coverage. Several airlines have also started making their environmental statements and assessments easily available online with American Airlines, Southwest, and JetBlue leading the charge.

Article by Emily Goligoski for DivineCaroline. First published April 2009.

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Image: Binder.donedat

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