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1 Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's biggest market show in Las Vegas high-end jets are drawing buyers with their smooth silhouettes, luxurious cabins - and increasingly, their use of alternative fuels.

Fuel manufacturers and jetmakers are keen to showcase novel forms of aviation fuel considered less hazardous to the climate, from used cooking oil to the definitely less glamorous meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have acquiesced ecological pressure on air travel and devoted to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that embracing renewable fuel to curb emissions might make business jets more attractive to environmentally conscious purchasers - specifically corporations dealing with concerns over sustainability from investors or green project groups.

The availability of less contaminating personal jets could likewise spare the rich and popular the unfavorable publicity experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan over a recent personal jet trip to southern France.

Five Gulfstream jets on display screen in Las Vegas are using California-produced fuel from inedible beef tallow.

The current waste-based fuels include "fats, grease and oils that are byproducts of the food industry," stated Bryan Sherbacow, primary industrial officer of Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste utilized by Gulfstream.

"All of our item is inedible."

Some of the other 79 aircraft on screen are anticipated to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other eco-friendly fuel mixes anticipated to be pumped at the program.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets account for less than 0.1% of overall yearly carbon emissions globally, but can discharge, usually, as much as 20 times more carbon emissions per passenger mile than jetliners, according to the London-based private charter company Victor.

Prince Harry has actually safeguarded his periodic use of personal jets to ensure his family's safety, and has actually said that on the rare events he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state incidents such as the furore over his schedule have included fresh difficulties for an industry currently aiming to justify its contribution to cutting business costs.

"Incidents of flight shaming involving using personal jets are regrettable when you think about that our industry has actually provided fuel performance improvements of 40% over the past 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel use will assist the industry make inroads with corporations and wealthy purchasers. According to industry data, billionaires only have a 19% company jet ownership rate.

But even an image transformation - with jets sporting stickers like "this aircraft flies on sustainable fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for going to airplanes - is not likely to please all critics at the Oct 22-24 luxury jet event.

Environmentalists and some experts remain hesitant that biojetfuels, typically mixed 50-50 with kerosene, will make a considerable effect on public perceptions about luxury travel.

"No quantity of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make company jets look eco-friendly," said air travel expert Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from service jet operators for renewable fuels now far goes beyond supply and their interest could drive future production, Sherbacow said.

World Energy, which produces 40 million gallons of biofuel at its California plant, could approximately 150 million gallons by 2022.

Corporate charter business and specialists are likewise seeing more interest from clients who wish to purchase carbon credits to offset emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions played a function in a corporate jet usage research study his business recently finished for a Fortune 500 business.

"At the end of the day, I think that cost, cost per hour, variety, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) chauffeur. But I believe people are becoming more familiar with the sustainability of operations and how it affects the planet." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)