Airships

Over the years I have occasionally wondered whether anyone has been looking at airships for transport in stead of jets and the like. So I was happy to see this article by George Monbiot touting the same idea and adding a few helpful details like these:

a large commercial airliner cruises at about 900 kilometres per hour, the maximum speed of an airship is roughly 150kph. At an average speed of 130kph, the journey from London to New York would take 43 hours. Airships are more sensitive to wind than aeroplanes, which means that flights are more likely to be delayed. But they have one major advantage: the environmental cost could be reduced almost to zero.

Even when burning fossil fuels, the total climate-changing impact of an airship, according to researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, is 80-90% smaller than that of ordinary aircraft(4). But the airship is also the only form of transport which can easily store hydrogen: you could inflate a hydrogen bladder inside the helium balloon. There might be a neat synergy here: one of the problems with airships is that they become lighter - and therefore harder to control - as the fuel is consumed. In this case they become heavier.

Wired 14.04: START

If all goes as planned, Rist and Martin intend to start what they're calling a "roadless trucking" service, eventually building a 990-foot-long hauler. Oh, the efficiency!

This could be a boon for saving greenhouse gas emissions if it 'takes off'.
Wired 14.04: START:
Filed in: airship, haulage, environment, fuel

Tagged -who's next?

ninetysix and ten: "I’ve been tagged by Cath at ninetysix and ten .
First the preamble:
1. The rules of the game get posted on the beginning.
2. Each player answers the rules about himself [or indeed herself].
3. At the end of the post, the player tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read his [or her] blog.

And the questions:
What I was doing ten years ago: Five things on my To-Do list today: Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Three of my bad habits: Five places I’ve lived: Five jobs I’ve had: Five books I’ve recently read: Five people or communities I’m going to tag.

And the answers...
What I was doing ten years ago: I was leading an inner-city church as its vicar and getting involved in a city-wide process for Christians strategising with regard to Islam in our city. I was also just finishing a PG cert in cultural studies.

Five things on my To-Do list today: Book a lecturer to contribute to an Autumn module; prepare for Thursday night communion at which I'm presiding; further planning for Mission History and Theology module; participate in current delivery of same; arrange further meetings for Mixed mode set ups.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: sort out good eco housing for me and my family, set up or invest in business in something green, perhaps a portfolio of risk but the aim being to get something interesting going, eg, an airship company for international flight

Three of my bad habits: letting people get away with things I should challenge, having the wrong pudding, talking too much.

Five places I’ve lived: Shropshire, Reading, San Sebastian, Bradford, Durham

Five jobs I’ve had: Shop worker at Sainsbury's, shop assistant at a local Wholefood shop, curate, vicar, university chaplain.

Five books I’ve recently read: How to Understand the History of Christian Mission, The University of Google, Rome Burning: Sophia McDougall, Cloud Atlas: David Mitchell, Bridge of Souls (Quickening Trilogy): Fiona McIntosh.

Five people or communities I’m going to tag: Hmmmmmmmmm. Dr Moose, Chris Monroe (Paradoxology), Jem Clines, Stephen at Greenflame, Maggi Dawn, perhaps ...

New Airships Are More Than Just Hot Air

I continue to be interested in the idea of airship travel So, again this article was interesting. I still reckon that it'd be a good seller. If I had Bransons millions, I'd get into this; first as a luxury travel option and a freight thing. Any way the article is here New Airships Are More Than Just Hot Air | Autopia from Wired.com

Oops, we helped ruin the planet

This is interesting, not just travelling that is sensitive to the local environment and culture, but also trying to raise the issue of global impacts. Good on them.

Rough Guides, and ... Lonely Planet after ... want fellow travellers to "fly less and stay longer" and donate money to carbon offsetting schemes. From next month, warnings will appear in all new editions of their guides about the impact of flying on global warming alongside alternative ways of reaching certain destinations

Now, I would like any readers who know of alternative ways of crossing the Atlantic to let me know. Seriously, if I go to America again, I would like to be able not to fly by jet plane. I would love there to be an airship or a boat ... teleportation would be nice but I suspect that's quite a way off [and likely to use even more energy, I would guess].
So leave a comment if you have a link to any purveyors of transatlantic travel who aren't using jet aircraft.
Guardian Unlimited Travel | News | Oops, we helped ruin the planet:
Filed in: flying, CO2, environment, guides