New plan to reduce planes' CO2 emissions

[bananas]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/03/31/new_plan_to_reduce_planes_c02_emissions/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news

New plan to reduce planes' CO2 emissions
By Frank Jordans
Associated Press Writer / March 31, 2009


GENEVA—Aviation groups in Europe announced a plan Tuesday to change the way commercial planes land in order to reduce their global-warming emissions of carbon dioxide.

By 2013 some 100 European airports will allow planes to descend all the way from cruising altitude to the runway in one smooth glide, saving up to 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of CO2 per landing, the International Air Transport Association said.

<snip>

Industry leaders meeting in Geneva for a two-day summit on aviation's impact on the environment said that while the slowdown in air travel would lead to lower carbon emissions in the short term, a sustainable reduction requires new technologies and more efficient use of airspace.

<snip>

Aviation groups predict air traffic will increase fourfold between now and 2050, far outstripping current emissions saving efforts.

[phantom power]

1. Fly less?

[AndyTiedye]

4. Trains Are Better (and Potentially Faster) for Short Hops

For trips of a few hundred miles or less, trains can be faster than planes, and they certainly are more comfortable and more convenient.
Short trips like that should be high-speed rail, with good connections to airports for the longer trips.

[MercutioATC]

2. Won't work.

They descend into an airport the way they do for a reason...to help us keep them from bumping into other airplanes.

Can we do it occasionally on a plane-by-plane basis? Sure.

...but it won't work as a regular practice.

[kristopher]

6. With computing improvements I think it can be done.

The problem to date has been the lack of ability to juggle all the variables in the depth necessary and the fact that updating ATC computer systems always lags way behind state of the art technology.

[GliderGuider]

3. Aviation groups predict air traffic will increase fourfold between now and 2050

And I predict winged monkeys are going to fly out of my butt in 2012...

[NNadir]

5. Why is it no surprise to hear our worshipful Rommers here hyping this sort of thing.

The damn plane will still consume more than 10,000 citizens of the Maldives, not there is one bourgeois bore on this website who gives a flying fuck for anyone in the Maldives.

[kristopher]

7. Starting with you.

[Systematic Chaos]

9. Captivating.

[bananas]

8. McCain lost -get over it.

[Systematic Chaos]

10. Simply amazing.