Airways New Zealand, Airservices Australia and the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States are the founding members of the initiative created in February 2008 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation activities in the region through technological innovation and best practice air traffic management.

Since then, the group has undertaken a series of three Trans-Pacific test flights in partnership with Air New Zealand, Qantas and United Airlines, to demonstrate and measure the emission reductions and fuel savings achievable through the use of existing efficiency procedures.

On 14 November 2008 a United Airlines aircraft flew from Sydney to San Francisco. This flight alone cut up to 15,000 kg of carbon emissions and saved more than 4,500 litres of fuel!

Alison Espley, General Manager Australia and New Zealand, United Airlines said: “Protecting our environment is a shared responsibility and the success of ASPIRE demonstrates the results of collaborative activity. United is committed to minimising our carbon footprint by continuing to expand waste management efforts and exploring alternative energies. We are thrilled that our participation in ASPIRE has demonstrated the potential for more efficient air traffic procedures and we look forward to working with our partners again in the future.”

The first ASPIRE Annual Report highlights each of the ‘green’ flights whose results will now be used in establishing a baseline for air traffic management performance and carbon emissions. In recognition of its potential to permanently reduce emissions, ASPIRE recently won the Jane’s ATC Global Award.

Virgin Blue was the first airline in the world to have a Government-certified Carbon Offset Program. Adhering to the high standards required to be certified under the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly Program has contributed to the success of the program and to Guest confidence in choosing to offset their flights with the airline.

While the one millionth offset seat sector was flown late July, the presentation to Ms Helen Townley was held over until today so that Ms Townley could have the honour of receiving acknowledgement in person from Australia’s most eminent environmentalist. Professor Flannery donated his time as a means of helping Virgin Blue encourage all air travellers to offset the emissions of the flights.

Professor Flannery said; “I believe it’s important for people to address climate changes through the everyday decisions – to take individual responsibility for minimising our impacts on the environment – because that’s the only way we’ll get a committed constituency for greater political action. For many of us in the world today, no matter how much we genuinely care about this issue, air travel is something we cannot avoid as part of our working lives. All it takes is ticking a box and spending an extra dollar or two to offset the emissions relating to your flight. That is why I have agreed to take the time today to personally thank Ms Townley for being an example to us all. It is the smallest things we do that can have the greatest cumulative effect.”

Victoria is supporting this by trying to introduce a shared “public bike” scheme. This initiative has already had success in places around the world such as Copenhagen, Washington and Paris. In Copenhagen you put a coin in a deposit box and you can take this bike anywhere around the city limits, you just have to make sure you return it to any of the bike racks around the city.

Melbourne city council actually tried to introduce the scheme back in 2007 but failed partly because of Victoria’s compulsory helmet laws. A transport expert has called on the government to look at repealing the 20-year-old mandatory law to help the scheme succeed, otherwise some believe that as the law stands could deter people from using the bikes.

The scheme in Paris has had some controversy in that some of these hired bikes have lead to many injuries and even some deaths. In any city there will be cars and so wearing helmets should be compulsory. Surely there is a compromise to make this scheme work in Melbourne?

The scheme is due to launch in Melbourne next year with 600 bikes to hire.

They held test flights for the green plane last year and although it is only a two-person plane, is a start to green air travel. Boeing have claimed that it is the first plane in the history of aviation to powered itself by hydrogen powered fuel cells which convert through a chemical reaction to electricity and water- none of the pollution associated with combustion engines.

The environmentally friendly plane took five years to develop and comes with several other advances in green earth technology. Since the development of the 200ft wingspan plane there have been other advancements to help achieve the ultimate goal: green air travel.

But we cannot celebrate the airplane success just yet. Still, no one has come up with a large passenger plane that can produce no carbon emissions like the green Boeing plane can.

Environmentalists remain sceptical over the air travel developments and believe that air travel will never be truly pollution free. Aviation campaigner Richard Dyer has said that technological advances in emission reduction improves only one percent per year, compared to air travel which grows at a rapid rate of 7 percent.

Although there has been planes and other technological advancements, the outlook of green air travel is still far from the horizon.

The small holes in the aircraft, they believe will dramatically reduce the mid-flight drag that causes high carbon emissions during flight. Half the drag a plane will experience will be from a skin fraction, anything that reduces this will reduce the amount of fuel used.

The researchers explained that the ‘bottle-top’ invention was made based on the Helmholtz resonance principle- the same one that applies to a bottletop where the air is compressed in to a cavity and increasing the pressure, forcing the air out to create an oscillation.

The team believe that this could cut the fuel costs by up to a fifth, which would save millions of carbon emissions being released into the air. If the invention proves to be successful the technology would also be applied to improve fuel efficiency for cars, trains and boats.

90% unleaded petrol and 10% fuel ethanol blends are commonly referred to as E10 and this blend is available in many service stations throughout Australia. Those petrol stations operating under BP, Caltex, Shell and United all sell the E10 fuel blend.

Pros-
· Depending on the source and method, Bioethanol generally reduces carbon dioxide by up to 70%.

Cons-
· The 5% Bioethanol blend is only limited and sold at few outlets
· Bioethanol vehicles cost more than petrol vehicles

Normal diesel contains only around 5% Biodiesel and the rest diesel, but this is not good on our environment. The benefits of Biodiesel are:
· it is renewable
· gives up to 60 percent reduction of C02
· is highly biodegradable which means it does not pollute soil and waterways if it happens to split.

Although there are benefits, there are also some cons of Biodiesel fuel. These are:
· oxides of nitrogen are higher in Biodiesel which adds to the smog pollution.
· There are only a few refueling stations available, compared with everyday petrol, LPG and diesel
· You will most likely need your engine to be modified to use the Biodiesel 100 percent and make the most from the renewable fuel.

Aviation pollution contributes to around 3.5% of global warming for human activities and is continuing to rise. Part of the reason for this is due to the fact airlines benefit from large tax breaks. They have cheap flights and people jump on board, not thinking about the environmental consequences.

Another factor is that international aviation is not included in most international treaties on climate change. This means that there is no agreement on whose responsibility the pollution is and how to locate the carbon emissions.

But what can be done about the carbon dioxide pollution? Cars, noise pollution and airport expansion all contribute to aviation pollution. But grounding all planes is not the answer to the problem, as this would have many economic and social impacts.

The government believe air travel and its effect on climate change is an international as well as domestic issue and needs an international solution. They also hope that emissions trading schemes will help to reduce carbon emissions from the aircrafts.

The government also hope that technology expansion and design will help to reduce the C02 released. Currently it is our job as consumers to be aware of the emissions that are released into our green house when we fly. By choosing to fly only short distances or holidaying close to home, we can help reduce the amount of C02 in the air. Look for greener ways of traveling to your dream destination.

Green vehicles have low (or zero) carbon emissions, are highly fuel efficient and are made of materials that can be easily recycled once the car has run its race.

Here are a couple of the best options for those looking to buy a green car.

Smart For Two

It’s been quite a few years since Smart cars hit the roads, and they are still a big hit with environmentally conscious inner-urban commuters. The Smart For Two Cabrio 52kW MHD is a recent model that boasts an excellent fuel-to-kilometres ratio (4.4 litres to 100 kilometres). It is also lauded for its terrific low CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions (105 grams per kilometre).

Toyota Prius

Toyota has been a market leader when it comes to green cars, and the company’s flagship environmentally friendly model is the Prius. The Prius performs remarkably similarly to the Smart For Two both in terms of fuel-to-kilometres ratio (4.4 litres) and CO2 grams per kilometre (106).

Fiat 500

Sporting a zippy 1.2-litre, four-cylinder engine is the Fiat 500. Fiat is known for its classy European designs and efficiency, and this model is no exception. A very good (5 litres) ratio of fuel-to-kilometres is matched by a great CO2 grams per kilometre spec (118).