Emerging energy solutions presented at Green Professionals Conference
One emerging energy centered in the Northwest is the search for sustainable aviation fuels. Ross Macfarlane explained that aviation industry leaders were pushing for innovation in this field.
Climate Solutions' Ross Macfarlane presented at the 2012 Green Professionals Conference
Emerging and alternative energy solutions was just one of the ideas discussed at Portland's Green Professionals Conference this week. Jason Busch of the Oregon Wave Energy Trust, Ross Macfarlane of Energy Solutions, and Alex Schay of Carbon Solutions NW gathered to explain how the market was expanding, with the Pacific Northwest as a natural hub for the industry.
Another emerging energy centered in the Northwest is the search for sustainable aviation fuels. Ross Macfarlane explained that aviation industry leaders were pushing for innovation in this field—unusual because alternative energies are usually a supply-side pushed innovation. The reasoning is mostly cost-driven—petroleum price swings are the biggest factor in airline costs.
Boeing, Alaska Airlines, and the region's three largest airports joined together to form Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest to explore greener ways for airlines to operate.
Macfarlane said that it was important to set priorities for biofuels where they are most needed, like in aviation. Ground transportation has opportunities like electric cars and mass transit, "but it will be a long time before we have plug in planes."
So why is the Northwest a hub for these aviation innovations, when there are larger airlines elsewhere? The answer is a combination of aviation leadership (Alaska Airlines is the first to have regularly scheduled biofuel flights) and the sheer amount of biostocks available here—including large ones like oil seeds, forest slash, solid waste and algae.
