Obama Faces Climate Change Test with Ethanol
from the Associated Press via MSNBC
President Barack Obama's commitment to take on climate change and put science over politics is about to be tested as his administration faces a politically sensitive question about the widespread use of ethanol: Does it help or hurt the fight against global warming? The Environmental Protection Agency is close to proposing ethanol standards. More

Airports Tackle Emissions
from Environmental Leader
The aviation industry is working on fuel conservation measures as a key way to reduce carbon emissions and costs. The biggest improvements are coming from new technologies that change the way planes fly. More

Start-up Promises 1 Billion Gallons of Algal Fuel By 2025
from Wired
That's the promise from Sapphire Energy, which is positioning itself to lead an emerging industry by working with airlines on test flights and ramping up its production facilities in New Mexico. If all goes as planned, the company says, it will be in the position to supply one million gallons of biofuel annually by 2011, 100 million gallons annually by 2018 and one billion gallons each year by 2025. More

Airlines Weighing in on Carbon Offsets
from New Straits Times
Heightened environmental awareness has raised the call for green solutions as the air travel industry records never-before-seen growth. But some quarters question whether carbon offsets are the answer. More

Animals on Runways Can Cause Serious Problems at Small Airports
from Science Daily
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a potentially deadly combination. A Purdue University study of 10 small Indiana airports found that animals can gain easy access to runways and infield areas, increasing the likelihood of planes striking those animals. More

Qatar Airways Joins Aviation Global Deal
from The Peninsula
In an eco-friendly initiative, Qatar Airways joined the Aviation Global Deal Group – an industry-wide body that aims to help develop a global policy for tackling aviation emissions. The airline also unveiled new routes and expansion plans at the Doha International Airport on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. More

JFK Airport Neighbors: Wetlands and Birds
from the Irish Times
Imagine being on a passenger jet that has its engines idle as it glides through the air to land quietly on the runway. No dropping down in stages, no circling around in a holding pattern for half an hour, and no noisy reverse thrust when the aircraft lands, guided in safely by sophisticated computer systems. That’s already a reality for many SAS aircraft at Stockholm's Arlanda airport. And this pilot project, called "green approaches," is "a blueprint for how it’s going to look like throughout Europe in the coming years," according to Niclas Gustavsson, of the environmentally conscious Swedish Civil Aviation Authority. More

UT Scientists Part of Algae-to-Jet Fuel Initiative
from Austin Business Journal
Biologists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin are part of a $25 million project attempting to transform algal oil to jet fuel. Algal feedstock is considered one of the best sources for biofuel. It is renewable, does not compete with food crops and grows in wet or dry environments using brackish water or treated wastewater. Furthermore, algae use carbon dioxide as a food source, which means greenhouse gases can be converted back to energy. More