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This discussion relates to Technology Review's article How Aviation Can Come Clean.

• 
  Mapou
  

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  10/01/2009 01:07 AM

  How Aviation Can Come Clean? Hum. Let Me Count the Ways

  
  Right up my alley, thank you. There is only one way that the aviation industry can come squeaky-clean (no emission whatsoever) and that is to abandon the erroneous paradigms and primitive chemistry-based propulsion technologies of the baby boomer century and forge a bold new future. How can it do that? What else is there besides the same old stuff? Well, there is the realization that we are literally swimming in energy, lots and lots of clean energy. A recent reevaluation of our understanding of the causality of motion leads to the inescapable conclusion that we are immersed in an immense lattice of energetic particles. This huge energy field can be tapped into for both super fast propulsion and energy production. Soon, we’ll have vehicles that can travel almost anywhere at enormous speeds and negotiate right angle turns without slowing down and without incurring any damage due to inertial effects. Floating cities, earth to Mars in hours, New York to Beijing in minutes… That is the future of energy and travel.
  
  My advice to aviation is this. Soon, there will be very little distinction between ground, air and space transportation. It will all be based on the same advanced technology. You would do well to carefully examine the writing on the wall from all angles and prepare yourselves for radical change ahead.
  
  You don’t understand motion, even if you think you do:
  http://rebelscience.blogspot.com/2009/09/physics-problem-with-motion-part-i.html

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  • 
    nishant kumar
    

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    10/01/2009 06:19 AM

    Re: How Aviation Can Come Clean? Hum. Let Me Count the Ways

    Wow!
    You should be a science fiction movie director, with that dazzling imagination of yours.
    
    Yet, your comment seems to be slightly incongruous. Please forget the fantasy, and live in reality. It must be acknowledged and accepted, rather than diverting from the main issue, that global warming is a real problem, and the aviation industry is a huge contributor to this problem. I think this article adresses some important issues, whilst injforming us about the changes that are hopefully about to take place in the aviation industry. The message is simple yet powerful, if there is a joint effort to improve the energy efficiency of the aviation industry, then the entire world will substantially benefit from it. As far as I am concerned, I believe that the aviation industry must be taken seriously, since I don't see any evidence or signs of your imaginary prediction in the coming future. No flying cities, or high-speed transportation systems.Neither, do I believe that the aviation industry is ever going to disappear. As the article suggests, biofuels is an optimistic prospect for the aviation industry, and the demand is growing 4percent anualy. The aviation industry needs to act today, rather than tomorrow to make a difference in carbon emmisions. Biofuels is an excellent way of transforming before oil peaks and global temperatures rise.

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    • 
      Mapou
      

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      10/01/2009 04:53 PM

      Re: How Aviation Can Come Clean? Hum. Let Me Count the Ways

      Wow!
      
      'Wow!' does not come close to doing it justice.
      
      You should be a science fiction movie director, with that dazzling imagination of yours.
      
      Maybe. But I prefer reality because it's stranger than fiction.

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    ranadrew
    

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    10/01/2009 01:45 PM

    Re: How Aviation Can Come Clean? Hum. Let Me Count the Ways

    I want some of what he's smokin'!

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    • 
      Mapou
      

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      10/01/2009 03:11 PM

      Re: How Aviation Can Come Clean? Hum. Let Me Count the Ways

      You do, indeed.

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  samitch26
  

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  10/01/2009 01:52 AM

  alternative

  I think the hybrid airships being developed right now could significantly reduce fuel consumption and could be used effectively on many of the shorter routes that aeroplanes fly today.

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  • 
    samurai.stewart
    

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    10/01/2009 07:59 AM

    Re: alternative

    I agree, i would love to travel this way. But in todays fast paced world everything is about speed. Those airships are slow. It would be great tho to have a slower and hopefully much greener way to travel by air as an alternative.

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    • 
      gabrielg01
      

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      10/01/2009 12:32 PM

      Re: alternative - back to the Zeppelins

      Actually, airships could be pretty fast, especially if they are going with a global airstream. And we could mitigate the slower speeds, by greatly increasing the creature comforts on these ships.

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      malexy
      

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      10/05/2009 12:54 PM

      Re: alternative

      While flight speed is important, it is not always the critical factor.  For example:
      1) A direct NYC to MIA flight takes about 3.25 hours.  With one stop, say in Atlanta, the trip takes almost twice as long.  A direct airship flight should take less than 7 hours.  For casual fliers, and even many business fliers, this would be acceptable.  I know I would prefer to do some reading and work on the Internet uninterrupted on a flight rather than waste to boarding and "wandering" the airport due to a connecting flight.
      2)A substantial amount of air freight could accept a few hours delay.  More important, certain ground freight could support a bit of a premium for "slower" air freight.  This could create a new freight category.

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      • 
        mkogrady
        

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        10/16/2009 01:36 PM

        Airship alternatives

        I agree. Airships beat fixed wing craft hands down when it comes to efficiency. The natural lift of the craft is provided by the air-bags.
        
        The Obama administrations cracker-jack team of Inter-City High Speed Rail experts may want to rethink their plans. Airships travel "as a crow flies", up to speeds faster than ground based rail systems with out the need to build and maintain the rails themselves. In addition, you can cross open expanses water too, so trips from NY to Chicago (over the Great Lakes), or Milwalkee to Cleveland would be quick and safe. The fact you save billions on the simple Right of Way access needed for rails means those dollars could be shifted to the basic R&D and Production facilities for a new aircraft industry.
        
        Basic airship commuter flights would be comfortable and safe, and Super-lift systems could be developed to move freight.
        
        Not bad for something that's been around (and proven to be safe by Mythbusters) for almost a century.
        
        Now if we can get Jimmie Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and a great drummer back together again we'll have something!

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        • 
          ssco
          

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          10/26/2009 07:17 PM

          Re: Airship alternatives

          What airship do you know that travels as fast as any existing fast train?  Most are unfit to fly in any significant wind.  All the Goodyear Zeppelins were lost in storms, one on the ground, the other two while flying.  New York to Miami would normally mean crabbing into a crosswind with a resultant forward speed of probably less than 40 mph making the travel time about a day.  Modern blimps don't fly in wind above 15 mph.
               Would be airship makers, always seeking funding, make wild claims written as if they actually have airships, but never build one, let alone prove their performance.  There are very good reasons why the skies are not filled with these relics.

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