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October 02, 2009
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Which airline is the greenest, and which is the worst polluter?
— The Editors
Santa Fe, New Mexico
 Airlines account for about two percent of all glacier-melting, polar bear-killing emissions released into our carbon-choked friendly skies. And while a handful of carriers around the world are taking steps to reduce their footprint, the U.S. ones are generally lagging behind. (Go figure.) By far, the world's earth-friendliest airline is Nature Air (natureair.com), based in Costa Rica. It uses de Havilland Twin Otter planes, considered the most fuel efficient on the market, for its 74 flights to 16 destinations. It also completely offsets its carbon emissions by conserving hundreds of acres of rainforest on the country's Osa Peninsula--going so far as to use an independent auditor to ensure that the trees are being properly hugged and the funding isn't wasted. On the ground, Nature Air powers its vehicles with biodiesel made from recycled vegetable oil, is downright miserly with paper, and runs an aggressive recycling program.
The best U.S. airline for carbon impact is probably Southwest. They understand that energy efficiency translates into improved profit. The company recently began a $175-million program to retrofit the navigation systems on its planes to calculate tighter flight paths, which should reduce jet-fuel consumption by six percent, or about 90 million gallons a year. (Consider that the cost of plane gas is $1.74 a gallon right now, so that translates to $156.6 million in savings annually.)
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Additionally, Southwest is one of the few airlines that recycles your onboard paper and cans instead of grabbing them from your tray table and tossing them. (JetBlue and Delta deserve props in this category as well.) According to a recent Scientific American article, U.S. carriers throw out enough onboard aluminum cans each year to build 58 Boeing 747s, and enough paper to cover a football field 230 feet high. Southwest realizes that instead of paying to dispose of waste, they can make money selling the recyclables. (I don't know why this is such a difficult concept for so many companies to grasp.) Of course, there's a simpler way of relieving your guilt--and impact--over flying: Hop in a grease-powered car, instead.
Eco Adventurer
Greg Melville is the author of Greasy Rider, a new book in which he drives across the country in a fry-oil-powered car investigating the future of green technology. A journalist who has written for Outside, The New York Times, and Popular Mechanics, Melville blogs about all things eco at greasyriderbook.blogspot.com. He lives with his wife, kids, and dog in Asheville North Carolina.
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