● electric vehicles, bicycles, trams & trains for personal transport
● trains for freight
● solar, wind & hydro for domestic & commercial electricity
All of these are available as off-the-shelf solutions.
For commercial airlines, there appears to be no alternative to carbon based liquid fuels. At the moment, this fuel comes from fossil sources.
Biofuel alternatives have a number of problem to overcome if they are to be sustainable: diversion of food supply, arable land & fresh water, plus fossil fuel use in crop production.
ISEAS may be a solution:
Credit: ISEAS/RenewEconomy
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/desert-farms-could-power-flight-with-sunshine-and-seawater-57366
Salicornia — salt tolerant, oil rich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicornia / aviation industry major source greenhouse gas emissions fuel aviation contributed climate change carbon dioxide CO2 improvements in efficiency global aviation emissions expected grow 70% 2020 2005 industry seeking new renewable fuel sources growing biofuels takes up valuable land water grow food grow biofuels land nobody wants using seawater sunlight produce food new project Abu Dhabi Integrated Seawater Energy and Agriculture System ISEAS grow sustainable food aviation fuel desert seawater sunshine transferable similar arid regions around the world project under construction solve biggest environmental problems triple dilemma energy water food problems compound each other each making the others more difficult to resolve wasteful irrigation water limits threatening reductions food production water energy food issues positive relations Sundrop Farms project South Australia abundant sunshine seawater produce electric power fresh water cultivate greenhouse crops tomatoes Sundrop Farms project won substantial financial support global venture capital firm KKR Clean Energy Finance Corporation contract to supply fresh produce supermarket chain Coles Abu Dhabi projectseawater farming salt-tolerant plants mangroves oil-rich Salicornia aquaculture seafood shrimp fish Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium Abu Dhabi partners airline Etihad Airways Masdar Institute of Science and Technology UAE United Arab Republics corporate giants Boeing General Electric UOP Honeywell corporation funding market rapidly scale up securing the biomass complementing associated activities complementary generate a closed loop operation seawater aquaculture ponds fish shrimp varieties grown food wastewater aquaculture rich organic nutrients irrigate salt-tolerant crop Salicornia crop harvested oil extracted seeds aviation biofuel water drained salt tolerant crops mangrove wetland naturally purified carbon sequestered solar energy input drive crop production energy production pumping chart process solving complex problems project solves problem waste disposal fish farming aquaculture channelling organic wastes irrigation fertiliser cultivation Salicornia plants halophytes salt-resistant species seawater grow on arid land project eliminates problem most biofuels water arable land used for food production Abu Dhabi project produces fuel food recycles everything non-arable land current pilot farm entirely closed-loop seawater drawn originally ocean passing various stages fed to mangrove plantations water is filtered through mangroves extracting final nutrients ocean recycled fish farms energy pumping water generated solar array no fossil fuel input backed financially large players Etihad principal airline Masdar Institute S&T corporate giants like Boeing scale up quickly pilot project plant covering 2 hectares 200 ha demonstration scale 140 ha Salicornia cultivation 30 ha aquaculture 20 ha mangrove plantation Australia vast arid areas copious quantities of seawater sunshine ingredients similar solar biofuel food project national air carrier Qantas experimented aviation biofuels national R&D organization CSIRO Australia long experience development agricultural models cope with high salinity levels strong research tradition cultivated West Australia CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity Future Farm Industries CRC lack of continued support project produce food domestic consumption export produce aviation biofuel restore fuel processing value chain domestic export product utilise water promote means halting desertification restoring fertility arid areas /
