Can We Make Flying 'Green'?

At 3 mins 38 seconds I confused the horizontal with the vertical axis. Sorry about that!

What can we do to reduce the carbon footprint of air travel? In this video we look at battery powered planes, hydrogen powered ones, bio fuel, and synthetic kerosene.

Data about airplane emissions come from Our World in Data

The figure for the increase of airplane efficiency is from this report:

The figure for the energy per volume and energy per mass values for different fuels is from this paper:

Data for the cost of bio jet-fuel is here:

The paper about the increased efficiency of gene-edited microalgae is this:

The number for the carbon-dioxide emissions of synthetic jet fuel comes from here:

Numbers for the cost of synthetic jet fuel are from here:

Market estimates for the increase in air fuel demand are here:

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00:00 Intro
00:47 How Bad is Flying?
02:30 Electric Planes
06:32 Hydrogen
09:05 Biofuels
13:00 Synthetic Kerosene
16:05 Sponsor Message

#science #technology #environment

[eriktempelman]

Aerospace engineer here, with a PhD on sustainability. I have been watching this video with a professional interest. As to be expected from this channel, the content is excellent (and funny).
The key addition I would make is that the engineering challenges (sorry, problems) in any of these alternatives are daunting. As in: really, really difficult. Some things can be solved, but it will take a VERY long time. Which we don't have. Second addition: virtually the entire air travel industry is greenwashing like crazy. And regularly exposed for doing so. They fully deserve to be called out for it Misinformation will not help us at all.

Anyway. Time for "engineering without the gobbledygook" ?

[scottweisel]

Sabine, You are #1 in the Stand-up Physicist-Comic genre. Thank you for the education and the humor you provide.

[Haroldus]

I absolutely love your dry sense of humor and irony, Sabine, you made my day. 12 Swedes = 2 Germans....

[NS-YT]

I simply LOVE Sabine’s videos, and I especially love her deadpan humor (I literally burst out laughing - and got a lot of funny looks from fellow Starbucks customers — when she explained that “challenges” is American-speak for “problems”). I look forward to her every video, and I always seem to get a new perspective on things. She never disappoints! Keep up the great work Sabine!! ❤

[Random-obdc]

As a swede, I thought this video was hilarous while still extremely helpful and logical. Great video, I am surprised you could tell so many jokes in one video with such a straight face. Wonderful.

[dj-kqfz]

From a pilot's perspective, I enjoyed this immensely. There are huge obstacles to making any of these safe (as in the amount of spare fuel you can carry) for legitimate use, but we should make the effort. Thanks for the great content, Sabine! Dave J

[InvestingForTomorrow]

As an impartial observer, it seems to me that lifting all that mass up to 30K ft. with luggage, drinks, and hors d'oeurvres would be more efficiently transported on or under the ground by solar provided electric.

[SwissPGO]

I could watch Sabine for 80000 hours - and yes, I've got a PhD in physicist too. She's a great science communicator, because she chooses topics that are important to be well understood for ethical reasons.

[thattimestampguy]

*Background on the topic*
0:00 ✈️ Emissions
0:48 3rd biggest contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions [2.5% or 1 billion tons]
1:33 Everyone is emitting more CO2, however Planes are more energy efficient, keeping the 2.5% level.

2:17
1. Electric Planes 🔋 🪫 ⚡️ 2:32
- Slower, Smaller, Heavier planes
5:03 Hope for 90 passanger plane
+ More efficient than kerosine
6:10 Make a lighter battery

2. Hydrogen 6:32
- requires cooling
- requires heavy tanks
+ high energy density

1950s airbus tech roots —> 2020 airplane studies today

7:59 A-300-80, A-300-50

3. Biofuel 9:05
• recently deceased plant fuel 🌱
- Too heavy
- fuel freezes
10:16 Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosine
- 100 MILLION DOLLARS

4. Synthetic Fuel 13:00
+ High energy density
+ Already in use
- Costly

8 Billion Gallons with Gov subsidy by 2030

15:45 Replacing 5% of Jet Fuel

Then moving onto Meat 🥩 Shaming

15:53 “It Isn’t Going To Save The Planet.” 🌎 🌍 🌏

[Marqan]

Clearly we should develop green-powered super strong catapults and put wingsuits on everyone. More fun, more green, more more.

[ripponesan]

In all these discussions about how we could fuel the mobility we have, i miss the option where we highly reduce our mobility. In times of zoom calls and alike it really rareley is neccessary to go somewhere in person.

[kersebleptes]

"...closest emergency exit may be behind you..."

Genius! True genius!

[katiesethna]

I love your deadpan humour ! And the knowledge, of course !

[ElAnciano]

You really got me with the "Emotional Support Turkeys", delivered "dead-pan"! I must have laughed for 30 seconds or so, and am still smiling pretty hard! :D

[onekutguy]

I'm old enough to remember when people said horses were more cost-efficient than the Model T.

If Sabine was alive in the early 1900s, we might never have cars today.

[charlesblithfield]

I have always been amazed at the extraordinary amount of energy used by passenger planes. Cambridge physicist David MacKay (author of “Without Hot Air”) has calculated that a single Atlantic flight ONE WAY uses about 4800 kilowatt hours of energy per person (630, 000 kilowatt hours to fly that one plane one way across the ocean). To put this crazy amount of energy in terms that are easily understood he equates it to a hot shower: a 30 litre hot shower typically uses 1.4 kilowatt hours of electricity so a single return airplane flight uses as much energy as 6858 showers for every person on board. It’s like everyone on the plane taking a shower every day for almost 20 years - equivalent to 900, 000 showers for the entire plane! (McKay actually estimates this higher as 12, 000 kwh per person on his webpage - this figure is from an earlier version of his book - 12, 000 kwh is the same as 17, 000 showers a person on a return trip. He states, “Let’s make clear what this means. Flying once per year has an energy cost slightly bigger than leaving a 1 kW electric fire on, non-stop, 24 hours
a day, all year.”

[wtthehll]

That algae stuff sounds promising. Would be interesting to compare the sunlight catching area requirements of algae + refining vs. photovoltaics + power-to-kerosene.

[Jo-Heike]

I am from Northern Norway, and for a lot of places air travel is the only convenient way to travel domestically. We're looking at 15+ hour bus trips, 9+ hour car trips or day+ long sea trips on cruise ships along the cost. Or you could take a plane that might get you where you want to go in an hour or less, or maybe 2-3 if you use a circular route plane that visit a lot of small air ports.

[bkbland]

Love your subtle humor. You've got a great style for stand up and great info.

[Pan-Musician]

Sabine! I love your videos so much. Thank you for presenting accurate information in such an accessible and easy to consume way. You and your team are amazing.