Flying Green: On the Frontiers of New Aviation

by Christopher de Bellaigue

Can flying be green?

Everyone loves to travel, and the industry’s room for growth seems almost limitless―except that flying will soon be responsible for 19 percent of global emissions. Some people have even decided never to fly. Over the coming decades, aviation will witness more innovation than at any time since the invention of the jet engine in the 1940s, transforming the way planes are powered and the way they look.

In Flying Green , Christopher de Bellaigue meets the inventors, visionaries, and entrepreneurs who are at the frontier of new technologies, from a European startup that makes fuel out of thin air, to a California firm using hydrogen to power flight, and an airship called the Flying Whale. What will it take for a new generation of travelers to fly guilt-free? This is the story of the search for a way to fly green.

Genres: Nonfiction

111 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2023

About the author

Christopher de Bellaigue was born in London in 1971 and has worked as a journalist in the Middle East and South Asia since 1994. His first book, In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize. His latest book is Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Tragic Anglo-American Coup. He lives in Tehran with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an aerospace engineer working in the sustainable aviation field, I was very intrigued with this book. I thought that the technologies that were chosen to be focused on in this book were a pivotal choice and helped provide a well rounded view of the innovation happening in the area. I did find the book itself rather pessimistic, though I understand some of it goes with the nature of the impacts of climate change. I felt like in the beginning the book was sort of all over the place, sharing random aviation and environmental stats, but by the end of the book I felt there was a clearer message.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

[Michael Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a certain irony around reading a book like this shortly before I make a transatlantic flight. Yeah I'm vegetarian, I own an EV, and recycle etc. etc., but I also know that a single long haul trip can completely offset the carbon emissions I'd otherwise save, which doesn't even account for the inevitable flight back.

What I appreciate here is that this book doesn't browbeat you into being a Luddite through guilt tripping (though it does mention and discuss other individuals and organizations that try to). Instead, it does acknowledge the necessities and positives of air travel and how it's made the world more connected and accessible. But that doesn't mean it's not without cost.

So is anyone doing anything about it? Turns out, yes, but the technology isn't there yet, and barring some unforeseeable breakthrough, it might never get there on the scale needed. There's specific foci on SAF (sustainable air fuel), biofuels, hydrogen gas, and electric battery-powered aircraft, as well as which firms and individuals are putting the most work into realizing these alternatives, and their unique shortcomings. And it turns out there are a lot of shortcomings, and it doesn't seem like anything is going to change about it anytime soon.

Are we doomed? Probably, especially considering the post-COVID projections for "revenge travel" (this book came out in 2022, and it seems that has played out exactly as forecast), as well as a growing middle-class in China which is supercharging a domestic air industry to rival those in "mature" economies. But this book tries not to make it seem like a downer and highlights that some people are trying to do something about it.

[Simms · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative survey of the current state of the "sustainable aviation" field, from more sustainable carbon-based fuels to hydrogen to eVTOL aircraft, which I found interesting since the most recent books I've read discussing climate change have either been a little pollyannaish in declaring aviation to be solvable by amorphous "regulations" or flatly dismissive of green aviation on the grounds that energy-density issues will render electric aircraft inadequate to the task. If I wanted anything more, it would be a larger discussion of alternatives to air travel for the environmentally-minded average person, either in a current sense or an exploration of what direction other industries might need to go in, such as shipping or lighter-than-air airships.

Thanks to NetGalley and Columbia Global Reports for the ARC.

[Dayton Martindale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, helpful tour through aviation‘s climate problem and the primary technologies suggested to overcome it. The entrepreneurs and engineers interviewed are typically optimistic, although the author himself offers a more measured analysis. I imagine different readers might take away different messages.

The book’s brevity is both a strength and weakness, it’s both digestible and missing some valuable context (eg electricity demand of various tech). But as someone who writes regularly on these issues but typically more from the activism or policy perspectives I appreciated hearing from the technologists even where I am skeptical.

[Faith Sherwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much from a scientific POV, exploring statistics of carbon usage and kerosene as stuff, not really my thing but I’m sure would be good if it was. I was expecting a more accessible eco-friendly take.

[Drew hardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough subject matter but important. I will definitely be thinking more about not flying as much

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry reading, but informative. I wonder if decarbonization and efuels could be explained in a simpler way.