- Justin Rowlatt -
- 25 May 07, 07:14 PM
Let me come clean: I love flying and I have done ever since I was a boy.
Indeed, I still remember the day a friend of mine brought an impossibly exotic treasure into our primary school classroom. It was one of those plastic packets of miniature 鈥渢ravel essentials鈥 from some now defunct airline 鈥 Pan American or BOAC.
I can鈥檛 remember exactly what it contained 鈥 nylon socks, an eye-shade and a perfumed face wipe in a foil wrap perhaps. That wasn鈥檛 the point. What made my friend鈥檚 little plastic package so fabulous was that it was proof that my friend had actually flown in a plane.
It was three years before I flew for the first time 鈥 a family holiday to Morocco when I was about 10. Of course I鈥檝e flown hundreds of times since then 鈥 most recently on my Mission to Mumbai 鈥 but I still enjoy every flight.
My problem is that a year of carbon-counting as Ethical Man brought home just what an environmental disaster flying is 鈥 my family鈥檚 one trip to the Canaries last year created as much carbon as a year of driving our car.
That鈥檚 why I鈥檝e posed my deliberately provocative question. I want to know if it is possible to fly with a clear conscience.
So here鈥檚 the good news: when you look at the numbers, modern jet aeroplanes are actually a very efficient form of transport.
Indeed, the jet engine is one of the most effective ways to convert the energy from fuel into thrust. The best jets are 37 per cent efficient. By contrast it seems modern petrol engines are around 25 per cent efficient while a finely tuned diesel will achieve, at best, 32 per cent efficiency.
How does that translate into actual fuel consumption? Take a look at some figures: - a two litre petrol Saab 9-5 estate - uses 8.6 litres per 100km. The most efficient cars do better than that. The Toyota Prius, for example, is much more frugal. It uses 4.3 l/100km.
So what about aircraft? The average jet plane now uses around 4.8 l/100 km per passenger 鈥 just a little worse than a Prius with no passengers. But the manufacturers say that modern jets are much more efficient.
Airbus claims it makes the most efficient aeroplane currently flying, the A380. It says this behemoth uses just 2.9 l/ 100km per passenger. (Here鈥檚 the dull bit: that鈥檚 the fuel consumption when you assume a three class configuration operating at capacity with 525 passengers).
As far as I can tell the latest jumbos are similarly efficient 鈥 it is hard to be certain because the manufacturers do not publish comparable figures 鈥 but Boeing鈥檚 747-8 uses 3.7 l/100kms per passenger when operating at 70 per cent of capacity. (Assuming it is configured to hold 470 passengers in three classes).
So if jet engines are more efficient than car engines why do they get such a bad rap?
One reason is pretty obvious - we use planes to travel extremely long distances. I covered 14,000 kilometres on my trip to Mumbai and that weekend in Jamaica racked up just over 15,000 kms. Each trip covered pretty much the same distance as the average British car driver travels in a year.
The other big problem is that planes release their pollutants high up in the atmosphere where they have an even stronger greenhouse effect. The process is known as radiative forcing. What radiative forcing means is that aircraft emissions are reckoned to be almost twice as damaging as emissions at ground level.
So, combine the distance you fly with the effect of radiative forcing you can see why environmentally conscious people get so worried by our appetite for air travel. You can do as I did - get rid of your car, switch to energy efficient bulbs, eat locally grown food - but take one holiday flight and you will wipe out all your careful carbon cuts.
So here鈥檚 the important question: is there anything that can make flying less environmentally damaging? The received wisdom is that there is no simple fix but I鈥檓 not so sure. Here are some thoughts 鈥 please tell me what you think.
My friend Omar - who featured in our original flying film 鈥 speculates that planes 鈥 a kind of hybrid between a propeller and a jet plane could be as much as a third more efficient on short journeys.
That huge saving isn鈥檛 because turboprops are inherently more efficient than jets. The reason is that much of the fuel used by jets on short journeys is to get them to the high altitudes where they are most efficient. Turboprops fly at lower altitudes which saves fuel and also reduces radiative forcing.
What I want to know is this: if Omar is right why don鈥檛 more airlines use turboprops?
And Omar reckons turboprops would be less efficient than jets on long-haul flights. But there is some good news here too. The aeroplane manufacturers say they are doing their very best to improve fuel efficiency. They say today鈥檚 aircraft are 70 per cent more efficient than those of 40 years ago and that more efficient planes are in development.
Boeing boasts that its new 787 will better the fuel efficiency of even the A380. It claims that fuel consumption (assuming a two class configuration and 90 per cent occupancy) could be as low as 2.4 litres per 100 km.
There are other ways to cut emissions. IATA, the International Air Transport Association, estimates that improving air traffic control could cut emissions by as much as 12 per cent. It claims that by straightening out air lanes it has already cut millions of tonnes of CO2.
And I鈥檝e got a last suggestion that would massively increase aircraft efficiency in a stroke. It would be straightforward and cheap to implement and doesn鈥檛 rely on some untested new technology.
What is my innovation? Just get rid of first and business class.
Think about it. If you packed the A380 with economy seats it could hold 853 passengers. A back of the envelope calculation suggests this 鈥渆conomy鈥 Airbus (operating at capacity) would use 1.9 litres per passenger per 100km. That鈥檚 pretty much half the fuel consumption of most current aircraft.
Of course flying in such an aircraft would still be a carbon intensive activity but considerably less so than current planes. That鈥檚 because the effect of radiative forcing means each tonne of carbon you don鈥檛 emit is the environmental equivalent of saving two tonnes.
In fact 鈥 here鈥檚 a thought 鈥 now that I鈥檓 not Ethical Man maybe that鈥檚 what I should do. An economy-only eco-airline, the green alternative!
What鈥檚 the telephone number of Airbus again?
- Newsnight
- 25 May 07, 06:25 PM
From .
Newsnight Review decamped to the Cannes Film Festival and tonight , , and I will have our distilled thoughts on the films we鈥檝e seen.
I can tell from the panel鈥檚 body language when we emerge blinking into the light from screenings that there鈥檚 going to be some major disagreements on the show.
The deal on Newsnight Review is that the guests are not allowed to confer on films before the show 鈥 it鈥檚 been tough because we鈥檝e all had such strong reactions to what we鈥檝e seen. I know that because John, Mark and Julie can talk to me individually and I keep schtum about their views.
It has been such an extraordinary festival and before I tell you what we鈥檝e all seen, we鈥檝e also bagged the only British interview with Martin Scorsese, who has just launched the World Cinema Foundation here in Cannes to save neglected, damaged and "orphan" films from all over the world.
Scorsese has put together a committee of some of the best directors including Wong Kar Wai, Walter Salles and Bernard Tavernier and their aim is to encourage old archives to come forth with material for a new and eager audience.
Scorsese talked about films leading to a better cultural understanding between nations and it struck me that his outfit is a bit like a United Nations of cinema.
But where are these films going to be shown? The multiplexes? Are they going to put a Kenyan or a French film from the 1960s on their screens? But it鈥檚 not just neglected films 鈥 what about Scorsese鈥檚 own films? It鈥檚 such a pity that my kids will never see Taxi Driver or Raging Bull on anything but a DVD. Wouldn鈥檛 it be great if a multiplex had a Scorsese day or a Wim Wenders day or a Kurosawa day? Fat chance.
He also talks to me of his upcoming documentary on the Rolling Stones, his new project with Mick Jagger, and sex on screen.
Among the films we鈥檝e seen, Persepolis 鈥 up for the Palme D鈥橭r 鈥 falls into the category of aiding cultural understanding with great wit and warmth.
Iranian director Marjane Satrapi has turned her autobiographical graphic novel into a feature length cartoon about growing up during the Islamic Revolution with her co-director Vincent Paronnaud.
Also in the running is Quentin Tarantino鈥檚 homage to 70s Grindhouse films 鈥 Deathproof - originally designed as a companion piece to Robert Rodriguez鈥檚 Planet Terror.
Deathproof is a slasher movie with Kurt Russell as the psycho Stuntman Mike 鈥 out to murder a posse of beautiful women. It has all the hallmarks of the B-movies of the seventies which Tarantino fed on when he was growing up - seemingly random jump cuts, refocusing, scratches, rough joins all perfectly composed by Tarantino.
In the competition, by contrast, Julian Schnabel鈥檚 film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon 鈥 is an exercise in restraint, beauty, wit and honesty.
It鈥檚 based on the autobiographical novel by the former chief editor of French Elle who suffered a massive stroke when he was 43. It left him totally paralysed but alert, able to use only one eye to communicate.
And so Jean-Dominique Bauby, this once fast-living, charismatic seducer told his story by the blink of an eye and Julian Schnabel has in his film made the audience Jean-Do鈥檚 confidante locked in from the world around him.
It鈥檚 a privilege to see films here in Cannes. So few complain about queuing in 30 degrees for up to an hour to secure a seat at a screening. Once in a cool dark cinema you are taken to some strange places. One such place is the Scottish highlands as imagined in Harmony Korine鈥檚 film Mr Lonely. The cast are all impersonators living in a commune. Samantha Morton is Marilyn Monroe and Anita Pallenberg is the Queen. The Mr Lonely of the title is Michael Jackson played by Diego Luna. But Korine also pursues a parallel seemingly unconnected story about flying nuns in South America, a phenomenon which is regarded as a miracle by their local priest, played by Werner Herzog. Mr Lonely is in competition for Un Certain Regard.
Not in competition at all is Michael Winterbottom鈥檚 A Mighty Heart. And in fact there are no British films up for the Palme D鈥橭r at all this year. The film is based on the book of the same name by Mariane Pearl about her husband Daniel鈥檚 abduction and murder in Pakistan in January 2002.
Pearl, the Asia Bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, was pursuing a lead on the failed shoe bomber Richard Reid when he was kidnapped by jihadists 鈥 among the first of many journalists captured post 9/11 during the war on terror. Dan Futterman plays Daniel Pearl and Mariane Pearl is played by Angelina Jolie.
We鈥檒l also be discussing Gus Van Sant鈥檚 skater boy nightmare Paranoid Park. It鈥檚 based on Blake Nelson鈥檚 novel about teenage disaffection in Portland, Oregon and it鈥檚 classic Van Sant territory.
Death also stalks Bela Tarr鈥檚 film of the Georges Simenon novel The Man from London. It鈥檚 a mesmeric black and white film about mortality, sin and punishment and the often unrealisable longing for happiness.
The Coen brothers are also in the running for the Palme D鈥橭r with their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy鈥檚 novel No Country for Old Men, set on the frontier between Texas and Mexico, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem.
Our Newsnight Review guests have also been to see Control, Anton Corbijn鈥檚 film about the death of the Joy Division鈥檚 frontman, Ian Curtis, which also features Michael Winterbottom鈥檚 24 Hour Party People.
So it is going to be a packed programme. John, Mark and Julie will also reveal which film they loved the most and the one that they loathed.
We鈥檙e broadcasting from the UK Film Council's beachside pavilion and as it鈥檚 outside we鈥檝e been watching the forecast as intently as we鈥檝e been watching the films. There is a threat of thunder and lightning but if it doesn鈥檛 materialise we hope they鈥檒l be plenty of sparks on the programme anyway.
Join us to find out.
Watch the latest available edition of by clicking here.
- Newsnight
- 25 May 07, 05:56 PM
Presented by .
Immigration
A clear majority of British people have told a 大象传媒 opinion poll that they agree with the Trade and Industry minister Margaret Hodge on her controversial comments about immigration.
She said "British citizens should always get priority for social housing ahead of immigrant families".
Her Labour colleague the Education Secretary Alan Johnson accused Ms Hodge of using the language "of the BNP".
Newsnight's Paul Mason has been hearing the views from the heartland of England - Nottinghamshire - about immigration, and we'll debate the issue with the Labour MP Keith Vaz and the leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin.
Identity Theft
At one time thieves targeted jewels or cash as the most lucrative form of crime, but nowadays information can prove just as attractive.
Data theft is a growing criminal problem and one which is of increasing concern to the regulators.
But very little is known about how stolen data is used.
Martin Shankleman recently uncovered such a scam, and set out to see what happened next.
We've also been asking about your experiences of identity theft. Have you been a victim? Do you think those who hold your details do enough to stop this kind of theft happening? Join the debate here.
Newsnight Deputy Leadership Debate
And we are also looking for your help with a special programme Jeremy Paxman is hosting on Tuesday.
He will cross examine the six candidates for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in a Newsnight special.
We鈥檙e giving you the whole bank holiday weekend to think about the questions you鈥檇 like Jeremy to put to them.
Post your thoughts here and we鈥檒l arm him with the best ones on Tuesday night.
Plus, Kirsty Wark is in Cannes for Newsnight Review, where she has an interview with film director Martin Scorsese. Click here for more.
- Newsnight
- 25 May 07, 03:58 PM
On Tuesday night (29th May) Jeremy Paxman will cross examine the six candidates for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in a Newsnight special.
Hilary Benn, Hazel Blears, Jon Cruddas, Peter Hain, Harriet Harman and Alan Johnson will take part in the first televised hustings of the contest.
What questions would you like Jeremy to put to them? Post your thoughts below and we鈥檒l arm Paxman with the best for the programme.
- Newsnight
- 25 May 07, 01:44 PM
Tonight on Newsnight we have a report about the wholesale misuse of a database of personal details, but we want to hear about what has happened to you.
Have you been a victim of identity theft?
Do you think those who hold your details do enough to stop this kind of theft happening? And what experience of the police have you had if you've reported an identity theft?
Join the debate below.
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