As we’ve written before, air travel is pretty bad for the environment. But thankfully, some airline moguls (ahem, Richard Branson) are aware and are donating money and researching better fuel sources. Now Andy Harrison, of British budget airline easyJet, has announced his contribution: the ecoJet.
The ecoJet, seen left with Harrison, boasts a cutting edge design that would emit half the carbon dioxide of current airplanes, and would be 25 percent quieter to boot. The key to the plane’s efficiency is its high-propulsion “open rotor” engines, which–to reduce noise–would be mounted in the very back of the plane instead of under the wings. The “green” jet would also have a lower cruise velocity (to reduce drag) and would be mostly used for short-haul flights. The ecoJet could be completed as early as 2015 and Harrison said he’d replace his whole fleet with ecoJets if they were available now. Until then, there’s always carbon offsets.
