Electrifying Flight
Several years ago, my daughter and I had a discussion about plastic straws. This was well before I started seriously working to learn more about decarbonization and climate change. She was all-in on the campaign to ban plastic straws, while I was more wishy-washy.
My position was that, as individuals we can’t really do much to effect change. Even if entire states ban straws (or plastic bags, or what-have-you) without corporations and industry doing their part, nothing would change, and it's those BIG THINGS that make the real difference. I won’t attempt to articulate her argument, but it was completely valid, and involved the idea that everything anyone does to reduce pollution is worth doing.
Today, I’m much more interested in individual action, but also those big things are starting to happen, and it’s so exciting.
I wrote about aluminum, both in an edition of this newsletter, and for a publication called 100 Days in Appalachia. New types of concrete are being developed—at Perdue University, researchers have developed concrete that contains transmitter coils that could charge electric cars wirelessly. The industry as a whole is working toward decarbonization through groups like the Decarbonized Cement & Concrete Alliance.
Aviation is one of those industries, like concrete, steel, and aluminum manufacturing, that is classified as hard-to-abate.
Last week, I listened to another episode of Volts, which is probably my favorite podcast at the moment. On this one, David Roberts interviewed Kyle Clark, the founder and CEO of a company called BETA Technologies. If you have the time, and you’re at all interested in aviation, it’s well worth a listen. Lots of attention is being paid to sustainable aviation fuel—fuel made from biomass, like corn, algae, fats, oils, or grease, woodmill waste, manure, and similar products. The advantage of transitioning to such fuel is that it could likely be used in existing aircraft without the need for expensive modifications. The disadvantage is the cost of the fuel itself.
At BETA Technologies, they are taking an entirely different approach and building electric aircraft. They’ve developed two different aircraft (so far). One is a small airplane, called the ALIA CTOL, which stands for airport-to-airport all-electric airplane. The other is the ALIA VTOL, or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, which is a sort of helicopter/airplane combination that looks a little like a toy drone, but much bigger.
Both aircraft are completely electric, and BETA has taken the next steps, too, by developing batteries and fast charging stations. They’ve also developed a training program for pilots—all of the employees at BETA can take the training, and the US military has sent pilots through the training as part of a partnership.
It’s not all theoretical, either. BETA has flown ALIA aircraft across the country, several companies, including UPS, have ordered aircraft, they’ve opened a net-zero assembly facility that has the capacity to produce 300 aircraft per year, and they’ve formed partnerships to install charging stations at multiple airports.
Learning just a little about BETA has been great fun. Not too very long ago, it seemed like some sectors would never decarbonize, and finding out that flight is so close to being electrified is amazing.
My favorite bit from the podcast was this exchange, which is near the end, just after Clark described the way he foresees electrification “nipping on the heels of traditional aviation in range, payload, and performance”:
Roberts: “All this hype I hear about sustainable aviation fuels, about liquid fuels that everyone keeps saying will be necessary for aviation, you just disagree?”
Clark: “Yeah, I mean, it’s like a cordless phone. I didn’t last very long.”
The idea of comparing aviation as we know it today to old, corded phones, and the coming version to the sleekest, newest smartphone is delightful.