The Red, White, and Green

Photo via Flickr: Pylon757

Leave it to the innovative folks at Southwest Airlines to develop cutting-edge environmental design and initiatives for its fleet while most cash-strapped carriers are charging for checked luggage and making passengers flush before they fly. The company announced yesterday that it’s currently testing a “green” plane that reduces emissions and makes use of eco-friendly interior materials.

I’ve never actually flown Southwest — I’ll be taking my first trip with them this November — but I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with the eco features in the “green” Boeing 737-700 now in beta. (I put green in quotation marks because it’s pretty ridiculous to put that word in the same phrase as something that emits, on average, 2.4 tons of CO2 on one round-trip flight from New York to Los Angeles; still, I applaud Southwest for its efforts.)

Some of the new plane’s features:

• 100 percent recyclable carpet that can be installed and removed in sections, eliminating the need for full replacement
• Two different seat cover materials – e-Leather, made from discarded leather shavings, and IZIT Leather, a long-lasting synthetic alternative — that will reduce weight by nearly two pounds per seat
• Lightweight foam fill in the seat backs (supposedly more comfortable, too)

All told, the new initiatives will save a total of nearly five pounds per seat, which will help cut fuel costs and thereby reduce emissions.

Until Branson perfects his biofuel, the name of the game for reducing air travel emissions is efficiency. There’s so much that can be done with inventive design and flight plan optimization — all it would take is for more airline executives to think outside the cabin, so to speak. I’m amazed it’s taken this long for anyone — including Southwest — to start working on these things. What’s good for the environment is also good for the bottom line.

To read more about Southwest’s environmental initiatives, click here.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: It’s not something that people like to talk about, but you know what else is adding to the carbon cost of flying? Americans’ expanding waistlines. All the more reason to keep yourself fit and healthy!

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