Electric airplanes – Will flying ever go green?
The air travel industry wants more efficient – and thereby greener – airplanes in order to boost profits and improve its image in an increasingly environmentally conscious world. According to a piece in the Economist on new, more efficient designs for jet engines, jets are now roughly twice as fuel efficient as they were in the 1960s and 80% quieter. The new designs discussed in the piece – made by small Israeli firm R-Jet – have not yet been picked up by any major player in the airline industry, though R-Jet claims their engines could cut fuel use by a…

