Isra-Mart srl: Going green at the Paris Air Show

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The Paris Air Show is very much geared towards the defence industry, as my video round-up (see below) of the news and technical advances that caught my eye this week shows. Indeed, some of the leading business jet manufacturers would not be at the show at all if it were not for their military or special missions aircraft – the latter include law enforcement, border patrol and surveillance.

The other main theme of the show was green technology. Although aviation as a whole accounts for a tiny proportion of greenhouse gas emissions – less than 3 per cent, trailing far behind power generation and shipping, among others – its share is growing, and it is a highly visible and easily identifiable target.

The EU emissions trading scheme, for example, while seen in many other parts of the world as hugely unfair, is very dear to the heart of rulemakers in Brussels, who are adamant that they will not be deflected from their green – and taxation – goals.

General aviation has warmed to the theme of ecological sustainability, with a Gulfstream G450, similar to the one I have tested, becoming the first business jet to cross the Atlantic using biofuels. The aircraft, operated by Honeywell, flew from North America to Europe with one of its Rolls-Royce Tay engines running on a half-and-half blend of petroleum-based jet fuel and Honeywell Green Jet Fuel.

The Honeywell fuel is derived from camelina, an inedible crop that is claimed not to compete with the cultivation of food as it can be grown on marginal land or between rotations of food crops.

Although flight tests are needed to confirm all the modelling, what I hear about flying with biofuels is that it is hard to detect any difference from fossil-derived jet fuel. But their green benefits are hard to miss.