planes
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In Phoenix, it’s too hot for planes to take off
50 flights were canceled due to temperatures above 120 degrees.
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People don’t trust hypocritical climate scientists, study finds
Scientists seem less credible if they fly a lot or have large, gas-guzzling houses.
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Planes can’t land in Antarctica because the runway is melting
Australia's supply planes mainly use one runway, carved into the ice, for takeoff and landing.
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One more way your plane flights are killing everybody
Remember when cars used to give off disgusting clouds of lead-laden smoke? Planes still do that. Some of them do, at least — in particular, those nasty little planes that rich people fly because car traffic is for suckers. According to Scientific American, smaller planes now produce HALF of all the lead pollution in the […]
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White planes are more fuel-efficient than flashy planes
The vast majority of people flying home this week in a post-holiday haze will ride in a white plane. After a long history of dolling planes up to stand out, airline executives are opting for white designs, both because it's cheaper and because it's more fuel-efficient (read: cheaper). White paint wears more slowly, so fewer […]
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Critical List: Scientists find Earth 2.0; rootworms defeat Monsanto corn
Scientists found a planet that looks an awful lot like Earth. One U.N. leader says that even an international treaty won't ensure the world avoids dangerous climate change. And we don't even have that! Rootworms are developing a resistance to Monsanto's Bt corn, and scientists get to say "I told you so." The Carbon War […]
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Airlines race to be first to fly with biofuel
One day, maybe, planes will be able fly on electricity alone, but until then, the best chance they have to get off gasoline is to switch over to biofuels. And that's actually happening! Over the summer, two biofueled flights made it across the Atlantic, and now Alaska Airlines is pushing an ambitious commercial biofuel flight […]
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The Greenie Pig gets religion on global warming
Forgive me, Earth, for I have sinned. You see, a dear childhood friend of my boyfriend’s got married last Saturday. Our attendance was a foregone conclusion — there was no way Ted could miss his bro’s big day. Problem was, we live in Seattle, and this wedding was in Marfa, Texas, a tiny town a […]
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Virgin Atlantic plans to halve jet fuel’s carbon footprint using industrial gas
Virgin Atlantic is promising that within a few years, they'll be able to make their long haul flights with half the carbon impact that their jet fuel creates now.
The key technology here captures gases from steel production and makes them into jet fuel. It's supposedly better than biofuels, in part because it doesn't raise the same land use concerns. Virgin's not making the transition on its own: the company is partnering with Boeing, Swedish Fuels, and New Zealand-based Lanza Tech.
