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EU Set to Charge International Airlines for Carbon Emissions

The Guardian — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:15:27 +0000

Europe's most senior court is expected to rule on Wednesday that airlines based outside the continent should have to pay for their carbon emissions on flights to or from EU member states, in a crucial test of climate change regulation.

At stake are millions of tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions from airplanes, as airlines at present have little or no incentive to cut their greenhouse gases.

The signs are that the EU will be cleared to impose a system of carbon trading on all passenger flights taking off or landing in member states. In a preliminary ruling in October, the court backed the EU's plans. But whatever the 13 judges in Luxembourg decide on Wednesday, it is unlikely to be the end of the story as the long-running legal battle will open up on new fronts.

Already legislators in the US are attempting to make it illegal for their airlines to comply with EU rules on carbon, and it is understood that China is issuing similar guidance, in a serious escalation of hostilities.

The hard-fought battle pits the US and Chinese governments as well as numerous international airlines against EU legislators, who have insisted that airlines must pay for their share of the potential damage from climate change. The US and Chinese governments have threatened a trade war over the issue, and airlines have protested that if the EU rules are allowed to go ahead, they will be landed with billions of dollars of new costs in the next few years.

But the amount is likely to be small, according to analysts. Research carried out this year by the analyst company Thomson Reuters Point Carbon put the probable total cost to all airlines at about €1.1bn next year, but that was based on a carbon price of €12 per tonne – whereas prices have plunged to just over half of that in recent weeks. As a result, the true cost is likely to be much lower.

"The battle has been extraordinarily fierce, given the real implications of emissions trading, which are not really that big," said Andreas Arvanitakis, associate director of Point Carbon. "It's a minute incremental cost compared to the costs of jet fuel. This is certainly not a game-changer for aviation."

Airlines will also be treated equally on each route, in order to make competition between them fair.

On 6 October, an advocate general – a senior legal adviser appointed by the Court of Justice of the European Union – issued a formal recommendation to the court supporting the legality of the EU law. The 13-judge grand chamber has been deliberating the case since the advocate general's opinion was released.

Arvanitakis warned that if the judges ruled against the EU, it would be a "serious blow to political support" for the EU's emissions trading system. "If this entire sector is taken out, it would open the window for doubters within the EU to ask where this is going," he said.

Under the EU's proposals, all airlines operating flights taking off or landing in member states would be subjected to its emissions trading scheme – the system introduced in 2005 by which carbon-intensive industries are issued with permits to produce carbon dioxide. Cleaner companies can trade these permits with laggards, giving them an increasing incentive to cut carbon.

The US, China and numerous airlines argue that the system is in effect a tax on aviation, which would be banned by longstanding international agreement. However, the EU counters that the system is not a tax but represents fair regulation in order to tackle climate change. Airlines based within the EU will already be subject to the carbon trading rules from next year.

As a result of the system, passenger ticket prices are likely be pushed up, though some airlines may choose to absorb some of the costs.

Carbon prices within the European Union have fallen sharply as the euro crisis has taken hold, and are now close to their record lows.

Airlines also argue that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is preparing its own system of carbon trading, which could be operating from 2013. However, EU officials are doubtful that this would come up to the same standards as its scheme and could be open to manipulation by the airlines. Campaigners said the move to have ICAO bring in a scheme was merely a delaying tactic, and pointed out that ICAO has been talking about such a scheme for more than five years, without any concrete result as yet, with no guarantee of a future outcome.

Bill Hemmings, program manager at Brussels-based campaigning group Transport and Environment, said: "Let's allow the judges to decide whether it is legal or not [for the EU to draw aviation within emissions trading], but it is certainly not unfair. All airlines are being treated equally when they come into and leave Europe and that is fair."

He said studies of the cumulative effect of civil aviation since its inception showed it was responsible for about 4.9% of carbon and equivalents in the atmosphere. As that amount is growing, while emissions must be cut to avoid dangerous global warming, aviation would be an increasing part of the problem, he said.

The EU is also looking at ways to regulate the carbon output of international shipping. Proposals to curb greenhouse gas emissions from aviation and shipping have been under discussion since the negotiations leading up to the Kyoto protocol in 1997, and in recent years have focused on a levy on shipping. But that proposal was knocked back yet again at this month's UN climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa.

Emissions from international aviation and maritime transport are excluded from the Kyoto protocol and the 2009 Copenhagen accord, and there is no guarantee they will be included in any new international climate agreement to come into force from 2020. If aviation is included in the EU emissions trading scheme, it will be the first time carbon emissions from the sector have been regulated.

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Photo credit: Some rights reserved by ZeePack

Scaling Biofuels for Aviation ‘Not so difficult,’ Branson Says

Timothy Hurst — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:17:28 +0000

The commercial aviation industry could go from being one of the dirtiest to being one of the cleanest in ten years, according to one of the industry's best-known figures.

Richard Branson says the world's 7,000 airlines could switch to low-carbon jet fuels much faster than other forms of transportation because airplanes have very few "filling stations."

"Unlike cars where there are millions of filling stations, there are only about 1,700 aviation stations in the world. So if you can get the right fuel, like mass-produced algae, then getting it to 1,700 outlets is not so difficult," Branson said in an interview with The Guardian.

Branson's Virgin Group, which owns a majority stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways, said the industry should aim for 50% sustainable fuels by 2020.

"Aviation fuel is 25-40% of the running costs of airlines so the industry is open to new fuels," said Branson, who also heads up the Carbon War Room, an effort to work with and reward businesses that lead reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Some airlines are way ahead of others in the quest to make biofuels a regular part of the commercial aviation fuel mix. Several European airlines have tested or incorporated low-carbon fuels, as required by the EU program to reduce emissions from the aviation sector. But in North America, in the absence of such laws, progress is much slower.

Last month, Alaska Air chairman and CEO Bill Ayer lauded sustainable biofuels as "key to aviation’s future,” at the start of Alaska Air's biofuel trial period of 75 regularly-scheduled commercial flights running on a biofuel blend. Alaska was on course to be the first airline in the U.S. to fly a commercial flight powered by biofuel but two days before they were scheduled to do so, United edged out Alaska Air to take the honors.

Unlike Alaska Air, however, United has no immediate plans to procure a long-term supply of biofuels for use in their domestic aviation operations.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by AirlinesAngel

Will Cape Wind Destroy Cape Cod Tourism? Ferry Bets Against It

Timothy Hurst — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:21:10 +0000

Fifty years ago, just after the election of President John F. Kennedy, Cape Cod brothers Dick and Bob Scudder teamed up with a business associate of their father's to buy a circa 1911 150-foot passenger boat to ferry people to the nearby Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport, Massachusetts so they might catch a glimpse of Camelot in action. And while what has now become a 350-employee, multi-purpose ferry company linking Cape Cod and the Islands, Hy-Line Cruises likely wasn't always in good graces with the Kennedys. And just as some members of the Kennedy clan likely didn't appreciate Taylor and the Scudder brothers' little paparazzi ferry tours then, it is ironic, to say the least, that the Hy-Line Cruises project is a partnership with Cape wind to ferry residents and tourists out to the nation's first offshore wind farm, Cape Wind, a project the late Senator Edward Kennedy and his nephew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. both opposed.

Throughout the tumultuous ten-year battle over Cape Wind, opponents argued time and again that the project would not only destroy the fishing industry that operates in Nantucket Sound (to say nothing of the ecologically-devastating trawler-fishing operations most of these boats run), they maintained that the very presence of "industrial power plants" 7 miles from the coast of will destroy the economically vital tourism industry on Cape Cod.

On Monday, officials from Cape Wind and Hy-Line Cruises announced a partnership based on the premise that not only will the wind farm not threaten the local tourism-based economy, it will actually be a boon to it.

Starting this season, Hy-Line plans to augment its popular high-speed ferry services between Hyannis, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket with guided tours of the Cape Wind farm, both during construction and after completion.

"For the past year, Hy-Line has looked at the growth and potential of the eco-tour cruise industry when operated in conjunction with the development of off-shore wind farms in Europe," said David Scudder, Vice President of Operations at Hy-Line Cruises at a Monday press conference. "We found that eco-tourism is one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry globally," Scudder said.

But Hy-Line hasn't always been sailing under the Cape Wind flag. In fact, the ferry operator had been a stalwart of the opposition camp since the project was first proposed in 2001, arguing that its construction would be "courting a maritime disaster." On Monday, however, Scudder and Hy-Line had clearly staked out new territory, saying that Cape Wind had sufficiently addressed the company's concerns over navigational obstacles presented by the wind farm.

But the Cape's other major ferry operator isn't so sure. Officials from the the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority told South Coast Today that Cape Wind and the Coast Guard still haven't detailed the mitigation efforts that would address their concerns.

"The Coast Guard has said in the past that they have a lot of tools in their tool box," General Manager of the Steamship Authority Wayne Lamson said. "They didn't specify what those were."

Cape Wind President Jim Gordon said, "The Cape Wind Eco Tour and Visitor's Center at Hy-Line Cruises represents more than creating a world class tourism attraction and drawing visitors from around our region, nation and globe. It will stand as a testament to the spirit, ingenuity and progressiveness of Cape Cod and Massachusetts and how our community harnessed the wind to protect and preserve our environment, to revitalize our economy and to create a healthier more secure future."

Hyline officials said the new enterprise could add up to 100 new jobs at the outset and perhaps hundreds more if things go well.

In addition to employing a team of interpreters who will explore issues of energy, the environment and the political battle to build an offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound from the decks of a Hy-Line vessel, the plan also calls for a Visitor Center, that will both serve as an educational portal for visitors to learn about local culture's experience with energy and also serve as a platform to develop a curriculum of credit and non-credit courses for students at Cape Cod Community College.

"Specific emphasis will be placed on the history of energy of Cape Cod and the Islands ranging from historic windmills on the Cape to whale oil on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, to fossil fuels, and the transition to a clean energy economy," Hy-Line's Scudder said.

Scudder said Hy-Line is committed to developing a green vessel to be used for the ecotours and they are exploring the purchase of a hybrid engine vessel made by a Massachusetts company.

Photos: Offshore wind farm: courtesy Cape Wind/Hy-Line; Kennedy Compound: L. Richard Martin, Jr. via flickr

Maryland Unveils Low-Emission Diesel Electric Commuter Train

Timothy Hurst — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:14:57 +0000

Low-emission diesel genset locomotives have begun to spring up in railyards across the country. Genset locomotives switch to a low-power setting when they are idling, slashing fuel use and reducing carbon and particulate emissions. But the emergence of gensets and low-emissions passenger trains has been much slower to get moving. That is until now.

Officials with the Maryland Transit Administration say the new MP36 commuter locomotive built by MotivePower in Boise, Idaho drastically reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter, all while topping-out at a speed of 108 mph.

Unlike the genset locomotives which can toggle down from its operating power of 3 running engines down to 1, the diesel electric locomotives from MotivePower shut off the diesel engine altogether while idling and keep the motor turning via an electric APU (alternative power unit).

Video via Clean Skies

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Will Pick You Up… In a Nissan LEAF

Timothy Hurst — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:48:14 +0000

You'd have to be living under a rock to not notice the tremendous amount of buzz building around electric cars. And With electric cars like the Nissan LEAF and plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt set to hit showroom floors later this year, that buzz will soon materialize into a desire to get behind the wheel of these new electric wonders. Potential consumers have a fair amount of questions and concerns about diving head-first into an EV -- and rightfully so.

Sure you can read up on them. And when they finally do hit participating dealers in the launch areas, you might even be able to line up a test drive. If you're super lucky you might even be able to take one home for the night as an extended test drive. But even then, will you really have all your questions about charging, charging stations and range answered? Perhaps not. So for those who really want to get to know their EV before buying, they can try renting them.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has entered into an agreement with Nissan to purchase 500 Nissan LEAF electric vehicles and rent them in 8 to 15 of the LEAF launch markets, according to several reports. Cities where you will be able to rent the LEAF from Enterprise include Portland, Phoenix, Tucson, Knoxville, Nashville, San Diego, Los Angeles and Seattle.

So even if you don't live in a LEAF launch market and you've got a burning desire to get behind one for a few days, make plans to go see that potential client, cousin, or old college friend who's been bugging you to visit. Just make sure that your schedule isn't so busy that you don't have time to tool around in it for several hours. Because from what I've heard so far, you will want to.

Kimpton Opens Company’s First LEED-Certified Hotel

Timothy Hurst — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:57:11 +0000

Converted from an 80 year-old office building, Hotel Palomar Philadelphia is Kimpton’s first LEED certified hotel.

More evidence to the adage that the greenest buildings are the ones that are already standing, the recently opened Kimpton Palomar in Philadelphia is a LEED-certified adaptive re-use of The Architects Building, originally designed by a consortium of prominent Philadelphia architects in the late 1920’s.

The Hotel Palomar Philadelphia will be Kimpton’s 11th adaptive reuse development but its fist that is LEED-certified. LEED features will include daylight in 90 percent of all hotel spaces, a water reduction of 20 percent, an energy efficient HVAC system, and has at least 10 percent recycled content in the materials and resources used in the design. Hotel Palomar Philadelphia is also working to support green power, by purchasing enough renewable energy credits equivalent to two years’ power demand.

“We are also working on the concept of an educational display and tour, which would highlight a number of the sustainable elements in the hotel,” said Matt Wolfe, LEED Coordinator of Gensler. “The tour will take you through the building’s public spaces, showing guests the materials with recycled content, reclaimed floor finishes, FSC certified wood products, and other green elements.”

One of the leaders in the hotel industry for adaptive reuse of historic buildings, Kimpton called on Gensler to help with the renovation and refurbishment of the distinctive 26-story Art Deco structure.

Located near Rittenhouse Square, the Palomar is Kimpton's first hotel in the city. The building has functioned as an office building with ground floor retail and as home to the local chapter of the AIA since opening in 1930.