This project recently culminated in a $3 billion investment plan for the next 10 years in biofuel production, research and development, and other investments in renewable-energy production. The project will also include investment in new technology to dramatically shrink the carbon footprint of our existing transport operations. Since the transport sector is one of the largest consumers of oil, dramatically reducing the amount of oil used in ships, planes, trains and cars, or even replacing oil with non fossil fuels, is critical to our goals. We think it can happen in our lifetime.
The project began in 1997, when we had the opportunity to buy new trains for the long-distance rail network in the United Kingdom. At the time we pledged to pull out of domestic aviation in the U.K., where rail is capable of competing, and develop trains to be more efficient in terms of carbon input/output than any seen before. That project produced the Pendolino, built by Alstom, an all-aluminum electromagnetic tilt train with regenerative brakes, which use brake friction to create electricity. That allows the Pendolino to return 17 percent of the electricity it uses back to the National Grid. From London to Glasgow it uses nine times less CO2 per passenger than the equivalent 737 flight, making it the most efficient long-distance train in Europe.
The progress made by the Pendolino gave us the confidence to look at long-haul aviation, and we have now established that aviation could cut fuel use 25 percent by changing simple procedures. For example, at JFK airport in New York, the average long-haul plane takes 60 minutes to get from the gate to takeoff, and burns seven tons of fuel in the process. By towing planes out to the takeoff point instead, we would save 10 percent of that fuel. By changing procedures for landing, so that planes wait on the ground for an available gate rather than circling in the air, we would save even more fuel. Together with 33 other airlines and airport operators, we are attempting to bring about these changes industrywide.
But in the longer term, we need to find a new biofuel for aviation, and neither ethanol nor biodiesel works. So we are now in the R&D phase of a new alcohol-based biofuel that can supplement kerosene, which is still the basic jet fuel. The work is exciting and already starting to bear fruit.
We are also looking at future technologies. With our Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, we proved that an all-carbon-composite jet could improve fuel efficiency dramatically by operating at very high altitude, in the thin air above 40,000 feet. The plane is now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., but before it went there, Steve Fossett successfully flew it around the world while consuming less fuel per hour than an SUV. We see the Global Flyer as a precursor to carbon-composite planes, including high-altitude, high-fuel-efficiency commercial jets, which will hit the market within the next 20 years.
We know that we don’t have all the answers, but we are now engaged in tackling the questions and are beginning a massive investment program that will explore every aspect of renewable energy. So far we have made two biofuel investments (in Cilion of California for $75 million, and EGP of Tennessee for $40 million), but there are a lot more to come. With the world population growing fast and traveling more, the need to move quickly on these projects is urgent.
The future may not be as green as any of us would like, but if actions are taken now across the corporate world, mankind may at least survive the turbulent 100 years we have ahead. By making green investment a motive for success–rather than a charitable adjunct to companies’ existence–humanity will dramatically increase the chance of its survival.
