Virgin America to Report Pollution Through Climate Registry
from San Francisco Business Times
Startup airline Virgin America Inc. has signed up with a nonprofit that tracks pollution. Burlingame, Calf.-based Virgin America will report its emissions of greenhouse gases to the Climate Registry every year under this deal. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are believed to trap infrared radiation in the atmosphere the same way the glass panes of a greenhouse do, although the comparison is imperfect, since the atmosphere is vastly more complex. More

Airline Industry Lifts Biofuel Development
from CNBC
Airplanes of the future may not look like something out of the "Jetsons" or "Star Trek," but they'll be powered by anything from vegetable oil to algae. "We can't put in long extension chords for electric powered airplanes," says Bill Glover, environmental strategy chief at Boeing. More

SkyTeam's Sustainability Charter
from Air Cargo World
Among the aviation industry's most acute responsibilities is to find solutions to enhance environmental sustainability. Although not an inherently green industry, aviation contributes less to overall CO2 emissions that some may perceive – two percent of total according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. More

Neighbors Fume Over LAX Plan to Redesign Runways
from USA Today
Los Angeles International Airport is by far the nation's worst commercial airport for dangerous near-collisions between aircraft on the ground, but attempts to fix the problem have run into powerful political opposition. That plan has infuriated the airport's neighbors, who cite concerns over pollution, noise and decimation of businesses. More

Korea's New Strategy: Eco-efficient Aviation
from The Korea Herald
Flying is gaining popularity as a form of mass transit, which means carbon emissions are growing, too. In order to solve the problem of increasing carbon emissions, airlines must adopt principles of sustainable development. Sustainability in this context means economic, social and ecological sustainability. More

Etihad Airways Joins Qatar Airways in Bid to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions
from Green Prophet
Etihad Airways from the United Arab Emirates has signed an agreement with Masdar (the same group developing the world’s first carbon neutral city), to reduce the carbon footprint of the airline. The company follows in the footsteps of two other Middle East airline projects we know about — one in Israel to green the country's airport, and another more tangible project in Qatar. More

OriginOil & Sapphire Moving Closer to Commercializing Algae Fuels
from Renewable Energy World
Algae fuels OriginOil and Sapphire Energy both announced this week that they are ready to take the final steps to commercialization of their respective technologies. Sapphire Energy, revealed a very ambitious updated timeline for the deployment of its "drop-in" replacement transportation fuels. By 2011, Sapphire said that it will be producing 1 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel per year, double its initial estimates. More

Airport Bird Issues on Tap
from Kenai Peninsula Clarion
For a number of years, the Kenai Municipal Airport in Alaska, like airports and military air bases everywhere, has been dealing with the problem of birds getting in the way of departing and landing aircraft. The birds, mostly gulls in Kenai, like to rest at the end of the runway in the summer. The city has tried numerous tactics to remove the hazard, including lighting firecrackers, firing guns to scare the birds and even shooting them. More

Carbon Offsets for Summer Air Travel
from Mother Nature Network
Airfare for summer travel to domestic destinations is down more than 9 percent on average from 2008, while overall summer fares to destinations in Europe are down more than 19 percent, according to Farecast. On the down side, most airlines are charging extra for even a single bag — and what about that excess carbon baggage you'd be packing? A single passenger traveling round trip from New York to L.A. will be responsible for emitting about 1,500 lbs of carbon. More