1 Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

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By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's greatest industry program in Las Vegas luxury jets are luring buyers with their smooth shapes, plush cabins - and increasingly, their usage of alternative fuels.

Fuel manufacturers and are eager to showcase novel types of aviation fuel deemed less hazardous to the climate, from utilized cooking oil to the clearly less attractive meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have actually acquiesced environmental pressure on air travel and devoted to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that embracing sustainable fuel to suppress emissions might make business jets more appealing to ecologically mindful buyers - specifically corporations facing concerns over sustainability from shareholders or green project groups.

The availability of less contaminating personal jets might likewise spare the abundant and well-known the unfavorable publicity experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his spouse Meghan over a recent private jet trip to southern France.

Five Gulfstream jets on display in Las Vegas are utilizing California-produced fuel from inedible beef tallow.

The current waste-based fuels consist of "fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food industry," said Bryan Sherbacow, primary industrial officer of Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste utilized by Gulfstream.

"All of our product is inedible."

Some of the other 79 aircraft on display are anticipated to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other renewable fuel mixes expected to be pumped at the program.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets represent less than 0.1% of overall yearly carbon emissions worldwide, but can give off, usually, as much as 20 times more carbon emissions per traveler mile than jetliners, according to the London-based personal charter firm Victor.

Prince Harry has protected his periodic usage of personal jets to guarantee his family's safety, and has actually said that on the uncommon events he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state events such as the furore over his schedule have actually included fresh challenges for a market currently making every effort to validate its contribution to cutting business costs.

"Incidents of flight shaming including the use of private jets are unfortunate when you consider that our industry has actually delivered fuel efficiency improvements of 40% over the previous 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel usage will help the market make inroads with corporations and rich buyers. According to market data, billionaires just have a 19% company jet ownership rate.

But even an image makeover - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this airplane flies on eco-friendly fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for going to aircrafts - is unlikely to please all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.

Environmentalists and some analysts stay hesitant that biojetfuels, normally blended 50-50 with kerosene, will make a substantial influence on public understandings about luxury travel.

"No amount of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make company jets look eco-friendly," said air travel expert Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from organization jet operators for renewable fuels now far surpasses supply and their interest could drive future production, Sherbacow said.

World Energy, which produces 40 million gallons of biofuel at its California plant, might expand production as much as 150 million gallons by 2022.

Corporate charter business and specialists are also seeing more interest from clients who wish to purchase carbon credits to offset emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions contributed in a corporate jet utilization study his company recently completed for a Fortune 500 business.

"At the end of the day, I think that rate, cost per hour, range, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) driver. But I believe people are becoming more conscious of the sustainability of operations and how it affects the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)