Location Transport

What would environmentally sustainable air transportation look like?

Seems like Global Warming might be real. Cars and Planes are two sources of Carbon Emissions that might have a technological solution. What would an Ecologically Appropriate Air Transportation System look like? If, after the Moon Landing in 1969, NASA had spent an equal amount of time, money, and passion to build a clean air transit system; what would it look like? Jeez Geez, I never consitered the possibility that the government might actually lie to me. Can you be more specific?

Public Comments

1. Zeppelin, because it stays up in the air by itself and only consumes little fuel to move forward. Although bit more cumbersome
2. hmm my guess would be something that glides. this would probably mean it would have an enormous wing span, and it would still need energy but it would be significantly more environmentally friendly. you are right in saying cars and planes are two large sources of carbon emissions btw. but they are not the only main cause. the other main ones would be industry and livestock, which not many people know about. as for what it would look like, i see a normal airplane of today, except a little more stream line with a longer nose like a jet, and a very large wing span, with maybe one small engine on each wing. the only issue i can see with this theory is having to limit passenger numbers, and takeoff. with a large wing span it would weigh a lot, and therefor something on the tarmac would have to apply the thrust. so then... there is my quick idea, hope i helped in your pondering!!!
3. No, no, no... Don't bring up the Zeppelin again, its not environmentally viable if you want to go from place to place. As for your answer its mostly solar powered aircraft or a human powered one. But then who would want to use them when faster means of travelling is around. You can pedal or walk, but I'm willing to bet that most of your travel will be by burning fossil fuel. Where is the passion for clean world transit? I guess for generations to come, time would be the commodity worth having.
4. How about the current fleet burning ALGAE fuel! http://earth2tech.com/2008/03/27/15-algae-startups-bringing-pond-scum-to-fuel-tanks/ and http://www.physorg.com/news137684698.html Aircraft have used this and it works. http://earth2tech.com/2009/01/07/continental-gives-flight-to-algae-jatropha-jet-fuel/ BioFuels can and do work with Jet Engines that are on existing aircraft!
5. The Gossamer Albatros is one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossamer_Albatross ... or the Gossamer Penguin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossamer_Penguin
6. Intentionally Left Blank That's pretty much the the picture. Go back to your high school chem and Physics classes and you'll know why. You also might figure out that you're being conned.
7. Air travel that is "environmentally sustainable" would have to use fuel that is renewable, and that probably means combustible fuels produced from some sort of power that ultimately comes directly from the sun. Hydrogen comes to mind, or ethanol. However, as long as the planet's population continues to increase, there isn't any way to develop transportation systems that truly operate in a completely sustainable way, at least not with any current or foreseeable technology. The main danger to the environment is not in the way we use resources, but in the growth of the human population, which will eventually exhaust all resources no matter how they are used. In other words, any use of resources is fine if the population is small enough, whereas no use of resources is completely benign for the environment if the population is too large. For example, ethanol is theoretically a renewable fuel. But to create ethanol, you have to divert land that might otherwise be used to grow food. If the population is small, this isn't a problem, as there will be plenty of land. But as the population grows, eventually you run out of land, and you have to choose between food and fuel. And if the population gets large enough, you won't even have enough land to grow adequate food, much less enough land to permit the growth of biofuels like ethanol. The current volume of air travel is quite large and increases daily. Unless population growth can be controlled, this growth in air travel will outstrip any technologies that can be developed to provide renewable fuels for aircraft.