Flying the Environmentally Friendly Skies

Aviation contributes about 3 percent of global carbon emissions, but air travel is growing at about 5 percent a year. The outlook is not good unless the industry changes course soon.

And consumers are pushing the industry to take action. Hundreds camped out at Heathrow Airport two weeks ago to protest air travel's effects on climate change.

But aviation officials are also searching for an answer. Carbonfund.org has now partnered with jet charter company Jets.com so jet-setting clients can choose to offset the carbon footprint they create while using private jets.

Customers can choose to purchase the offset online in addition to the cost of their flights. Jets.com set up an online system that calculates the carbon offset cost depending on the specific jet's carbon dioxide rate and charges the customers $5.50 for each CO2 metric ton used during the estimated flight time.

Those charges will then go to Carbonfund.org for reforestation programs throughout the United States.

The private jet industry isn't the only form of air travel looking to better its ways. The U.S. military and commercial airlines are hopping on board as well.

The Department of Defense is researching how to create jet fuel out of organic matter. The military hopes to reduce its dependence on expensive foreign oil, although the environmental benefits shouldn't be ignored.

The United States burned 25 million gallons of jet fuel in 2004, which equates to about 240 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic Airways aims to fly a Boeing 747 on biofuels in 2008. And Boeing unveiled the new 787 Dreamliner, which purportedly uses 20 percent less fuel than similar-sized aircraft. Plus, Boeing and Airbus aim to fly their jetliners on biofuels within five to 10 years.

If people won't stop flying, improving aviation's fuel efficiency and lessening its dependence on oil is the next best thing.