Jatropha is a weed that grows in plenty in nations like India, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania and is often a serious threat to food crops as it grows at a rapid pace and uses up all nutrients in soil. But Air New Zealand along with Boeing and Rolls Royce’s testing unit are turning this unwanted pest into biofuel for flights of tomorrow.

Boeing committed to going the biofuel way for jets because it sees a very urgent need to change from fossil fuel dependency that has been affecting the planet and the aviation industry in a seriously negative way.

Air New Zealand is helping them in this regard as both of them are coming together for a test flight on December 3 that will be powered by a 50/50 blend of Jet A-1 fuel and a synthetic paraffinic kerosene derived from Jatropha that was developed by UOP (!! pdf link)

Rolls Royce has successfully tested this mix and has found it good enough for a Boeing flight. Now it will be just a matter of time, some fine tweaking and maybe a little luck before we have jets that are completely powered by biofuel derived from algae and weed. – via Ecogeek

Image courtesy of Thomas@Bod

If you're new here and you like our articles, how about subscribing free for our updates via RSS feed.

A female bar-tailed godwit, a wading bird called E7, has set a new record of having flown 6,230 miles for eight days across the Pacific Ocean to reach her winter home in New Zealand.

Much to the astonishment of the monitoring research team, the bird flew continuously without stopping for food, water or rest, making it the longest bird flight we’ve been monitoring, beating the previous record of 4,038 miles which had been set by a Far Eastern curlew.

The other eight godwits that got tagged with tiny satellite transmitters, were reported to have flown what the research team referred to as “extreme endurance flights” between 4,355 and 7,258miles depending on the chosen route. Just like the E7 godwit, they did not feed on their journey.

Check out more bar-tailed godwit pictures if you love birds!

All images courtesy of jvverde

Though I knew technology allows it we’ve never featured any electric planes in here. ElectraFlyer C, is an all electric airplane based on a Moni Motorglider that recently took off at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh to demonstrate that environmentally friendlier electric-powered flights are possible.

Using an 18 horsepower motor fed by 5.6 kilowatt hours worth of lithium polymer batteries, the ElectraFlyer-C “cruises at 70 mph, stalls at 45 mph, and has a top speed of 90 mph” and a flight duration of 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Weighing in at 78 pounds the custom-made batteries are projected for a 1,000 life cycles and can be recharged in as little as two hours using a 220-volt charger.

Another great point for the engine, is that it was optimized to reduce noise pollution, dramatically. For those that fear that this little thing can’t fly, you should know that “the motor direct drives a 45-inch ground adjustable, two-blade PowerFin carbon fiber propeller, which lifts the ElectraFlyer-C at a climb rate of 500 to 600 fpm. Takeoff rpm is 2800“.

The electric plane was designed by Randall Fishman, President of Electric Aircraft Corp, but is not yet for sale. Let’s hope he gets an investor to take it mainstream. Check out the video with the guy explaining everything.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWoLsJz8J5U[/youtube]