Flying with Carbon Credits and Future Low-Carbon Air Travel

If you fly a lot, you can buy Carbon Credits, like from a Nonprofit that Funds Wind Turbines and other Renewable Energy Projects in New England. By using an online calculator you can determine how much your flight(s) will put Metric Tons of Carbon into the Atmosphere and the Carbon Credits to Offset it.

Terrapass offers at $10 per month to Offset 12 Metric Tons of Carbon per year. 15 Metric Tons is the equivalent to the Annual Carbon Emissions of Three Average Earthlings. Terrapass uses that Money to Capture Methane from Landfills, Building Wind Farms, and Preserving Carbon-Sequestering Forests.

Airlines like United and Delta now offer Carbon Credits as part of their Booking process. And on a larger Scale, there's evidence that Offsets function as a kind of Self-Imposed Carbon Tax, encouraging People who buy them to keep their own Energy Use in check. But the reality is that Voluntary Offsets will never come close to matching Aviation Emissions, which accounts for 2% of overall Human-Induced Carbon Emissions.

For one thing, any Benefits from Offsets is likely to be overwhelmed by growing demand for Air Travel. According to a recent Report from Airbus, about 40% of the World Population is now Middle Class, and by 2037 this Group will have mushroomed to more than 50%, or some Five Billion People, all in the pool of regular or potential new passengers.

Buying an Offset isn't a Guarantee that your Flight Emissions will actually be Offsets since it's difficult to prove that Carbon-Avoidance Projects wouldn't have happened anyway or that the Neutralized Carbon will never be Released in the Future. And Critics say Offsets can be an Excuse for Inaction. Australian Engineer and Author Sharon Beder has called them a greenwashing mechanism that enables individuals to buy themselves green credentials without actually changing their consumptions habits.

Regardless of their relation to Consumer Trends, Offsets aren't a Solution to the underlying Physics Problem in Aviation, which is that today's Long-Haul Passenger Jets can't Take Off without Burning a High-Energy-Content Fuel such as Kerosene. That's why The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPEC) is confident that Worldwide Demand for Jet Fuel will reach Nine Million Barrels a Day by 2040, up from 6.3 Million in 2017.

Short of drastic Rationing of Air Travel, the only Long-Term solution for Aviation's Carbon woes is Electrification. Biofuels from Feedstocks such as Sugarcane, Algae, and Household Garbage, which burn more Cleanly than Fossil Fuels, could help in the Short Run, United has been mixing them into traditional Jet Fuel since 2016. but the Real Hope lies in Projects such as E-Fan X, a Test Plane from Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens, in which one of the Four Gas-Powered Turbofans is replaced by an Electric Motor. The Partners see the Project as a step toward meeting the European Union's ambitious Flightpath 2050 Goal of Reducing Aviation's Carbon Dioxide Emissions by 75% by 2050.

Start-Ups are getting into the Game, too: Seattle's Zunum Aero, backed by Boeing and JetBlue, is designing a Regional Jet with Batteries in the Wings and Fans powered with a Hybrid to Electric Power Train. To be light enough for flight, Aviation Batteries will need a Specific Energy, a measure of how much Power a Battery contains for its Weight, far beyond that of today's Lithium-Ion Battery Packs. So, for the time being, Zunum's Power Train will run partly on Jet Fuel.

The Improvements in Batteries and Motors needed to fully Electrify the Skies could take the Next few Decades. Zunum Co-Founder B. Matthew acknowledges in a recent Nature Sustainability Op-Ed. Meanwhile Buying Offsets is a Substitute that both feels good and does good. Just don't assume that it will keep our climate-Spoiling Travel habits aloft forever.










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