A 747 flying on coconut oil?
We had a post recently about whether Virgin Atlantic’s green programs were a true attempt at improving the environment or if they were mere greenwashing. While we didn’t have a strong opinion, we tended to feel that they were probably a mixture of both.
Therefore, we were interested to come across this article describing how Virgin Atlantic recently had a test flight of a 747 from London to Amsterdam, where the plane carried 5% biofuel derived from coconuts. Given the publicity and grandiose nature of this test flight, and the fact that biofuels may cause more environmental damage than the fossil fuels they replace, we question whether the intention here is merely positive marketing, instead of substantive change?
Nonetheless, as our readers have probably noticed, we are hesitant to throw out the “greenwashing” accusation too quickly. No one knows for sure what the best solution will be, and little has been done in the past, so even getting corporations just talking about going green has some value. Of course, policies that materially improve the environment should be the real goal. (Which probably does not include a 747 flying with 5% coconut fuel.)
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