A Commercial Plane Fueled By Fat And Sugar Really Just Flew to New York

Wow! I did not see this coming. Did you have “live to see a plane fueled with fat and sugar” on your life bingo card, you win! It's true, this has happened and it feels like we're living in the future right now. Can you say, "George Jetson."

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In the last few years, there has been talk about using biofuels (which are derived from fat and sugar) to power aircraft and the talk became action last month. Virgin Atlantic completed the world's first commercial airliner flight powered 100% by biofuel.

The flight from London to New York didn't use fossil fuels at all. instead it used sustainable aviation fuel made largely from tallow, waste fats, and plant sugars. The UK Transport Department forked out 1 million pounds ($1.27 million dollars) to plan and carry out the flight called "jet zero" by supporters.

The international aviation industry has a goal to be net-zero by 2050 and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 70%. Even though the flight was a success, there were still some big issues with using this new kind of fuel.

Some experts think the aviation industry can be a bit misleading about the impact of renewable fuels on carbon emissions. The idea that this flight marks a significant step towards guilt-free flying is a joke, according to the policy director of a UK group called the Aviation Environment Federation.

At this time, sustainable aviation fuel accounts for only around 0.1% of all aviation fuel worldwide. The Virgin Atlantic flight was the first commercial flight to go across the Atlantic using sustainable aviation fuel, but it wasn't the first jetliner to do so.

Gulfstream Aerospace set that record earlier this month with a business jet. Also, Air France-KLM flew from Paris to Montreal two years ago using a mix of petroleum-based jet fuel and a fuel made from waste cooking oils.

It sounds like we may be a step closer toward eliminating fossil fuels but there is still a long ways to go.