Photo by John McArthur on Unsplash
Greening up the automobile industry is obviously less challenging than greening aviation. Most land transports are between short distances, so driving cars powered by battery-electric makes so much sense. For long-distance travel by air, the question has been which clean/sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are available or in development and could effectively power flights as fossil fuels currently do.
The question has been seriously disturbing the global aviation industry because airline traffic will more than double today’s levels by 2050. Startup, Heart Aerospace, and others are using batteries to power short-distance planes. For long-distance travel, hydrogen fuel cells are being tested. While making these green alternatives as efficient as fossil fuels is still challenging; aviation companies are making headway against the various challenges with sustainable aviation fuels right now. We look forward to more green alternatives that can effectively replace carbon-based fuels for aircraft and eventually achieve the decarbonizing of the aviation industry once and for all.
