Air travel and global warming. By Joichi Ito joinospam@nospam_ito.com. [Joi Ito's Web]
Very interesting, this is something
that should have been obvious to me but wasn't. It is very logical that
all that Jet Fuel being burned high up in the atmosphere is such a
major contributor to global warming. But what's the solution? Airlines
are having a hard time meeting ends meet as it is and if they fly lower
their range is reduced, they use more fuel and their passengers will
experience more turbulence. So that's obviously not it. Lots of small
private planes? I don't think we are there yet, i'm not sure if we will
ever be. My vote: use a nice clean energy source, like nuclear power,
and rail guns to launch a vehicle into low earth orbit. You would only
need the engine for power assisted landing. The rest of the time you
could coats just like the shuttle.
