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frontbuttt t1_iwhimt2 wrote

Reply to comment by Entraprenuerrrrr in Research shows land that often lies fallow or is poor in soil quality — across the United States would provide enough biomass feedstock to meet the liquid fuel demands of the U.S. aviation sector fully from biofuels, an amount expected to reach 30 billion gallons per year by 2040. by Wagamaga

Read the article. This isn’t proposing use of ethanol, it’s hypothesizing that use of a kerosene-equivalent biofuel, not unlike bio-diesel, could power aviation. And while the harvesting and refinement of the fuel would no doubt pollute, and we’d still be burning the fuel’s carbon into the atmosphere, at least the continuous regrowing of the vegetation to create these fuels would reabsorb some of that carbon (which can’t be said of fossil fuels).

Far from a magic bullet, but if this is a step towards lessening carbon emissions, while retaining an affordable aviation industry (something very few are willing to voluntarily give up) then it should be considered.

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Entraprenuerrrrr t1_iwhmjln wrote

Ok I read the article. There is no mention on how well this biofuel will perform. Which is extremely important in aviation. Their rules and regulations are insanely strict. $4.10 a gallon vs $2 for jet fuel. Plane tickets double in price? Not to mention bio fuel will get worse mpg by quite a margin. Is a $500 ticket going to be $1300? Theres so much more that needs to be answered.

All they did was identify certain unused lands in the US can grow enough grass to be made into enough biofuel that it would be equivalent to the aviation industry’s use. Whoopdie doo that solves nothing

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frontbuttt t1_iwhovxc wrote

No disagreement here—nothing solved whatsoever. But a reassurance/proposal to take biofuels more seriously, and consider that they need not cannibalize the country’s ability to grow food crops, could be a step towards a stop-gap solution that lessens carbon emissions (even if only by a margin). We need for information, more proposed solutions, and more people considering new approaches/options. Not less.

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