[ti:Passenger Jet Fueled by Cooking Fat Crosses the Atlantic]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]British Businessman Richard Branson
[00:03.36]and Britain's Department of Transport
[00:06.72]organized a flight crossing the Atlantic Ocean
[00:11.00]by a jet using fuel made from animal fat.
[00:15.96]The Boeing 787 passenger airplane
[00:20.36]flew from London to New York on Tuesday
[00:24.72]using what the organizers called sustainable jet fuel.
[00:29.48]Branson founded Virgin Atlantic airlines.
[00:34.36]The airline said it used a fuel made from waste fats,
[00:39.96]including animal fat used in cooking.
[00:43.36]The transport department
[00:45.60]spent over $1.2 million for the flight.
[00:50.32]Branson was on the plane, along with reporters, engineers
[00:55.48]and government officials as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
[00:59.92]There were no paying passengers.
[01:03.36]"The world will always assume
[01:05.52]something can't be done, until you do it," Branson said.
[01:10.12]The transport department called the trip
[01:12.36]"a huge step towards jet zero."
[01:15.80]"Jet zero" is a play on words.
[01:19.20]It means the trip did not use
[01:22.16]traditional jet fuel that comes from oil.
[01:25.36]Some officials in the international air travel industry
[01:31.12]say they hope their companies can reach what is called
[01:34.80]"net zero" by 2050.
[01:38.36]"Net zero" is a proposed balance
[01:42.48]between the release of carbon gases into the atmosphere
[01:46.84]and the capture of those gases.
[01:49.44]However, organizers admit
[01:53.24]the mix of fuel used on Tuesday's trip
[01:56.32]will not be widely available anytime soon.
[02:00.88]The U.S. Department of Energy says
[02:03.32]sustainable aviation fuel
[02:05.68]is the best way to reach the "net zero" target by 2050.
[02:12.80]The government says sustainable aviation fuel
[02:16.68]cuts the release of greenhouse gases,
[02:20.72]gases said to cause warming, by 70 percent.
[02:26.40]However, the Department of Energy said
[02:29.68]the 2050 goal is "aspirational."
[02:33.24]That means it is unlikely to be reached.
[02:37.28]In the U.S., sustainable jet fuel production
[02:41.76]increased from about 8 million liters in 2016
[02:47.12]to about 60 million liters in 2022.
[02:51.36]But that is only about 0.1 percent
[02:55.52]of the fuel used by major airlines.
[02:59.92]In 2018, the Federal Aviation Administration
[03:04.28]set a goal of producing
[03:06.76]about 15 billion liters per year.
[03:11.24]President Joe Biden's administration said in 2021
[03:17.12]that it wanted three times that amount by 2030
[03:21.64]and for commercial airlines to fly on
[03:25.04]100 percent sustainable fuel by 2050.
[03:29.80]In Britain, the goal is for 10 percent of
[03:33.32]jet fuel to come from what it calls
[03:36.32]sustainable sources by 2030.
[03:41.20]Holly Boyd-Boland is an official with Virgin Atlantic.
[03:45.56]She said Tuesday's flight shows
[03:49.84]a sustainable flight is possible,
[03:52.64]but the difficulty is in
[03:54.40]producing enough of the new fuel
[03:57.08]"so that we're flying more sustainable
[03:59.60]aviation fuel every day."
[04:03.32]Cait Hewitt is the policy director
[04:06.56]for the British non-profit group
[04:08.80]Aviation Environment Federation.
[04:11.72]The group is interested in reducing
[04:14.48]the effect of the aviation industry on the environment.
[04:18.24]She said, "the idea that this flight
[04:22.04]somehow gets us closer to guilt-free flying is a joke."
[04:28.36]She said it will be difficult to increase
[04:31.28]production of sustainable jet fuel
[04:34.00]to the point that it makes a difference.
[04:36.76]I'm Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM