PP11: Tow policy

This is an idea that I first heard proposed by Sir Richard Branson as his Virgin Atlantic airline scrabbled around hastily to find a way of reducing their CO2 emissions which did not involve giving up on the enterprise all together. He suggested simply towing aircraft to their ‘starting grids’ rather than having them power up their engines and reach them under their own steam. The fact that once at the grid the aircraft would then go on to emit countless tonnes of CO2 high into the atmosphere is of course the real problem, but until someone somewhere invents a zero carbon passenger jet I see no reason why this idea should be sneered at. Branson predicts that this policy could prevent 2 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted per flight. A little research found that the average UK citizen emits 9.6 tonnes of CO2 a year – so for every five flights leaving from the UK’s airports we have effectively reduced our collective yearly CO2 output by one person. Hurah!

Considering that as of July 07 there were 60,776,238 of us this is of course trivial in the extreme. Yet a little more research finds that approximately 230,000,000 flights are made to and from the UK and every year – so the numbers soon start adding up. It is a policy that can be made immediately and at relatively little pain. And hence I see no good reason why it shouldn’t be introduced in all UK and EU airports, and indeed, in all airports around the world.

Thanks to the good work of the Messiah Branson trials are already going ahead and I should imagine this policy will soon see the light of day even without any input from national governments. But the sooner it’s introduced the better.