Virgin Puts Biofuels on Maiden Voyage

Talk about committed to green, kudos to Virgin Atlantic....

(WallStreet Journal, Feb. 26, 2008)
Ever a showman, Virgin Atlantic Airline President Richard Branson opened a vial of jet fuel made with oil from coconuts and Brazilian babassu nuts and drank it, forcing a stiff smile. "It's more appropriate for the engine," he said before TV cameras. Later, he said privately that he ahd been told he could drink it, "by my god, it was horrible."
On Sunday, Virgin flew a Boeing 747 from London's Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam with one of the four engines burning a mixture of 80% jet fuel and 20% oile from naturally grown plants. The first commercial airline test of biofuel came off without a hitch....demonstrating that someday planes may not fly on petroleum alone. Virgin and the handful of other companies involved in the project, are hopeful that in 3 - 6 years, passengers may be riding on jets at least partially powered by naturally grown oil...believed to result in a 20% reduction in total emissions.