Category: Travel & Offsetting

Yet another temperature record broken

James Van Der Hoorn 0 Comment Travel & Offsetting
Yet another temperature record broken

Last year Europe experienced its most extreme year ever for unusual weather events. Record heat and precipitation were recorded across the continent, with extremely cold weather during the winter, and heat and drought through spring and summer.

I’m sure it hasn’t gone unnoticed that 2019 has also been rather warm lately. Earlier this year the UK experienced unusually warm weather during the first few months — with record-breaking temperatures that hadn’t been seen in the last 122 years. We have also had the hottest February in UK’s history, with the highest average daily maximum temperature at 18.3 °C.

Then only a few weeks ago the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK – 38.7C – was confirmed by the Met Office, with July thought to have set the record for the hottest month ever recorded. Another startling fact is that 9 of the 10 hottest years on Earth have occurred since 2000. All this combined evidence makes it unequivocally clear that global warming is already affecting people’s lives and is not only a future problem.

The clever people at GreenMatch.co.uk have put together a very intuitive interactive-graphic which helps demonstrate how different countries in Europe are being affected by the climate crisis. Taking into account
surface temperatures, sea temperatures, sea levels, and precipitation each country has been scored from 1-100 on how severely it has been negatively impacted by the changing climate.

Whilst this a nice way of looking at the data, ultimately it is just another way to illustrate that the climate is only getting hotter and not colder. There is no denial in the fact that we are see environmental problems all around the world and problems of this magnitude need a universal policy on sustainability and renewable energy.

Closer to home we can all do our bit to contribute, starting with small, everyday actions — such as recycling and lowering your consumption — changing your domestic energy source to a renewable supplier can also make a huge difference.

In the coming months we will be trialling a beta version of our ‘ZIA’ app. This will provide lots of easy tips and useful advice on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle. If you’re interested in being part of the team, please contact us and show your support.

Tankering Fuel?

James Van Der Hoorn 0 Comment Toolkit Tips & Articles, Travel & Offsetting
Tankering Fuel?

What is fuel tankering?

‘Tankering’ is when an aircraft carries additional fuel for a flight to avoid refuelling when landing at the destination. The practice of tankering is purely a cost-saving initiative and the additional fuel is not considered necessary for the purpose of the flight. 

An airline will frequently take ‘round trip fuel’ to ensure the plane lands with enough fuel to fly back home again. 

Why is that bad?

The additional fuel carried when undertaking a ‘tankering’ flight increases the total weight of the aircraft, and therefore increases its fuel consumption, resulting in additional CO2 emissions. These CO2 emissions are completely avoidable, but exist purely because the airlines seek to take advantage of differing fuel prices.

How much do they save?

Fuel costs vary quite significantly across European destinations, with some airports offering fuel as much as 30% cheaper. This can result in significant savings for the airlines, where fuel costs account for up to 25% of their operating expenses. 

However at the other end of the scale, many airlines will tanker fuel even if the total savings are as low as £30. This could mean a flight which takes round-trip fuel could emit over a tonne of CO2, just to save a few pounds.

How often does this take place?

Studies have shown that within the EU approximately 15% of flights are tankering fuel to their destinations. After extrapolating these figures it can be shown that over 286,000 tonnes of additional fuel is burnt each year, producing just under 1 million tonnes of CO2.

It should be noted that tankering fuel does not affect the safety of a flight, nor is it a regulatory requirement, it exists solely to take advantage of a price differences.

Why?

Aviation is a huge competitive market, with airlines doing everything in their power to minimise their operating costs to keep their ticket prices as low as possible. Reducing costs is a major challenge for the industry but they’re also under increasing pressure to reduce their environmental footprint.

Here at Zero Impact Adventures we believe the time has come for this extremely environmentally damaging practice to be made illegal across the industry.

For more information about Tankering, please take a look at our FAQ which may answer some of your questions on the subject