Resources for a sustainable future

 28/4/2008 Guardian  US air force calls for the world’s top scientists to come together in a 21st-century Apollo-style programme to develop greener fuels and tackle global
warming. It wants universities, governments, companies and environmental groups
to collaborate on a multibillion-dollar effort to work out greenhouse gas
emissions of existing and future fuels.
William Anderson, an assistant secretary of the air force, said the project
aimed to calculate the overall carbon footprint of the world’s energy sources,
rather than merely measure their direct emissions.
He said controversy over the environmental impact of biofuels showed such an
effort was needed to avoid making the situation worse: “If you look at the
situation with bioethanol from corn, a lot of people saw that as a panacea, but
now it seems that if you include the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, the
carbon footprint may be worse than people realised.
“If the world wants to get serious on greenhouse gas emissions, we have to
figure out where they’re coming from.”
Anderson said the effort required was the modern equivalent of the Apollo
missions to put a man on the moon, “and the US air force knows something about
that”. The project will be discussed on Wednesday at a meeting in Washington DC
organised by the Connecticut Centre for Advanced Technology. Anderson said the
project aimed to combine research already under way across the world, and to
encourage governments and companies to release “billions of dollars” of funds.
US officials have already met the Royal Air Force and French air force to
discuss ways to make their activities more environmentally friendly. A second
meeting is scheduled for Paris in June.
Anderson said the military could learn from civilian airlines, which have
studied how to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency. He said: “What
everybody sees is the fighter aircraft, but the predominant part of what we do
is transporting people and stuff around. And so do British Airways, so do Virgin
and so do Fed Ex.”
Concerned about future supplies of oil, the US air force plans to switch its
aircraft to a synthetic liquid fuel made from coal. It has tested the new fuel
in aircraft such as the B-52 bomber, and is encouraging the British and French
to follow. Anderson said: “Energy demand is going to outstrip any gains from
renewables. As oil starts to diminish, coal is going to play big.”
Environmental campaigners have criticised such fuels, which they say have
overall carbon emissions about double those from oil. But Anderson said much of
the carbon pollution could be trapped and stored underground. He insisted the
air force would not switch to new technology unless it “has a greener carbon
footprint”

Go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/28/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange/print