...does Virgin fly to Russia?
OK, i applaud the baby step, sure, yay. But if you think that's going to shut me up you got another thing coming. Did you know that they have been flying hydrogen powered airliners since 1988? Didn't think so....
As everyone is pretty much aware, Virgin mega-man, Sir Richard Branson, has announced that he's now dedicated to flying his Virgin planes on "Green Fuels." The fuel of choice is cellulose ethanol, very similar to regular fuel, not many changes needed to the engine, made from agricultural waste, blah blah blah...
ok and we need cheerleaders, of course, because if you don't cheer the baby when he takes a step, he may not take another one... but you know what? That's not my job. Ethanol is one of the most useless alternative fuels there is. Aside from one experimental technology, almost all ethanol used today is made through a process that works like this: for every 1 unit of energy spent, you get 1.1 units back. It uses so much energy to make the stuff that in the end you have just offset your emissions to other places. To add insult in injury, Brazil likes ethanol so much that they will let you replace some rainforest with sugar plantations just to make the fuel (and hopefully sell it on the global market).
We know better. when someone tells us that their new technology is "100% environmental," that that is just PR. What is 100% environmental? EVs with lead-acid batteries? Recycling (which placates mad consumption as well as being another energy-hog)? Solar Panels (with all the chlorine wasted and incredible energy demands)? really there are things that are better for the environment, but everything has a cost, and there is no such thing as 100%. Unless you are in the PR industry.
But I do want to congratulate him. Baby took a nice step (remember there is no Virgin plane flying on ethanol even, just a dedication to make it happen). But if I had a way to get him to see what's really going on, I would go on one of those fancy Virgin planes with him to Russia.
See since April 15 1988, they have been flying these babies in Russia:
this is the Tupolev TU155. It is one of the many cryogenic and/or straight hydrogen airliners. They have worked on these from 1988-2002 (what happened after that? i don't know). Tupolev has documented their success (and no hindenbergs, thank you very much), and they prove how easy and safe it is. Sure, Hydrogen can be made clean or dirty, so it still depends on where and how the H is made... but there are so many clean ways to make hydrogen that that issue is almost moot. So Mr. Bransen, if you really wanna impress the pants off us, you might want to go check out some real alternatives.
As everyone is pretty much aware, Virgin mega-man, Sir Richard Branson, has announced that he's now dedicated to flying his Virgin planes on "Green Fuels." The fuel of choice is cellulose ethanol, very similar to regular fuel, not many changes needed to the engine, made from agricultural waste, blah blah blah...
ok and we need cheerleaders, of course, because if you don't cheer the baby when he takes a step, he may not take another one... but you know what? That's not my job. Ethanol is one of the most useless alternative fuels there is. Aside from one experimental technology, almost all ethanol used today is made through a process that works like this: for every 1 unit of energy spent, you get 1.1 units back. It uses so much energy to make the stuff that in the end you have just offset your emissions to other places. To add insult in injury, Brazil likes ethanol so much that they will let you replace some rainforest with sugar plantations just to make the fuel (and hopefully sell it on the global market).
We know better. when someone tells us that their new technology is "100% environmental," that that is just PR. What is 100% environmental? EVs with lead-acid batteries? Recycling (which placates mad consumption as well as being another energy-hog)? Solar Panels (with all the chlorine wasted and incredible energy demands)? really there are things that are better for the environment, but everything has a cost, and there is no such thing as 100%. Unless you are in the PR industry.
But I do want to congratulate him. Baby took a nice step (remember there is no Virgin plane flying on ethanol even, just a dedication to make it happen). But if I had a way to get him to see what's really going on, I would go on one of those fancy Virgin planes with him to Russia.
See since April 15 1988, they have been flying these babies in Russia:
this is the Tupolev TU155. It is one of the many cryogenic and/or straight hydrogen airliners. They have worked on these from 1988-2002 (what happened after that? i don't know). Tupolev has documented their success (and no hindenbergs, thank you very much), and they prove how easy and safe it is. Sure, Hydrogen can be made clean or dirty, so it still depends on where and how the H is made... but there are so many clean ways to make hydrogen that that issue is almost moot. So Mr. Bransen, if you really wanna impress the pants off us, you might want to go check out some real alternatives.