The Know Daily - Tuesday 28 November 2023

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Residents of the tiny Scottish island of Lismore have reason to celebrate: their only shop has been saved from closure! A community buyout campaign brought in more than 230 backers and £80,000 in donations to secure the future of the store, which also serves as a bank, post office and social hub. The Oban Times said the result showed how “big thinking by tiny islands really works”. 

🛫 Jet zero?

The first transatlantic flight powered only by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is set to take off this morning. 

What’s the story?
The Boeing 787 test flight - operated by Virgin Atlantic - will depart London Heathrow for New York’s JFK airport at 11:30am, carrying “scientists, aviation leaders, politicians and media”, said The Guardian. The list includes Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson and transport secretary Mark Harper, but no paid passengers. 

The flight was cleared by the Civil Aviation Authority earlier this month following tests and analysis. It will be powered only by SAF, which is made up mainly of used cooking oil and plant-based products.

What has the aviation industry said? 
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told Sky News that while the flight “isn’t zero-emission”, it will demonstrate that there are “huge opportunities” to bring down the carbon footprint of flying - sentiments echoed by the UK government. The industry argues that the “lifecycle emissions” of SAFs can be up to 70% lower than traditional jet fuel.

What’s the other side?
“Experts agree that SAF has a role to play in aviation’s transition towards net zero”, said the i newspaper, “but point out there are many barriers to it being used on a wide scale”.

They argue that there simply isn’t the capacity to scale up the production of SAF, which is “currently only made in small volumes” and “costs between three to five times as much as regular jet fuel”, said Sky News.

One professor told the BBC that the growing use of SAF has to be treated as “a stepping stone towards future, genuinely net zero technologies”, such as hydrogen.

What next?
The UK government plans to require 10% of aviation fuel to be SAF by 2030. Right now, that figure stands at under 0.1% globally. 

There are currently no dedicated commercial SAF plants in the UK, although the government aims to have five under construction by 2025.

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