German technology has once again left the world behind its innovation. The government of the country has just inaugurated a new facility that is created to manufacture jet fuel using just water, carbon dioxide, and electricity. There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony held for the purpose.
This facility is a component of the government’s plan to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the sector of the aviation industry. this was reported by The Associated Press. Synthetic kerosene is made by combining hydrogen from the water with atmospheric carbon dioxide. This is done by using electricity from wind farms that are located nearby. This is how it can function as a carbon-neutral fuel because it only emits the same greenhouse gases that were originally scrubbed from the environment for use as a reagent.
The creation of the facility is a giant leap forward towards eradicating 2.5 percent of the total global greenhouse emissions that come from air travel.
“The era of burning coal, oil, and natural gas is drawing to a close,” German environment minister, Svenja Schulze, said at the ceremony for the new plant, according to the AP. “At the same time, no one should have to sacrifice the dream of flying. This is why we need alternatives to conventional, climate-harming kerosene.”
But this will not fix the problem at hand altogether. The facility constructed will only be able to provide around eight barrels of synthetic fuel every day, according to the AP. These eight barrels are enough to fill up a small passenger plane every three weeks. On the other hand, commercial airlines used a total of 95 billion gallons of fuel in 2019.
Nevertheless, it is a start towards the creation of cleaner aviation technology. If it someday scales up to a useful degree, it could make a huge leap in the struggle for avoiding climate change.
