3 ms·

Delta bought an oil refinery at some point. Maybe they could buy some nuclear reactors and offset coal and ultimately make synthetic fuels.

PaulHoule 5y ago
The US Navy is talking about synthesizing aircraft fuel with nuclear power and direct carbon capture on aircraft carriers. An aircraft carrier has to slow down to take on fuel which reduces combat effectiveness (at full speed it can go a few miles while a ballistic missile in flight so it is hard to hit) they are probably paying upwards of $10/gal for fuel as it is. If synthetic fuel means they can operate independently of supplies for longer that's significant. The Army wants to synthesize fuels too because they are paying more like $50/gal to deliver fuel to forts in places like Afghanistan. They are considering crazy ideas like molten salt reactors, O'Neill style space solar power, etc. It's a matter though of trading a vulnerable and expensive supply chain (Ukraine didn't bother trying to stop the tanks charging towards Kyiv because the fuel trucks supplying them were a soft target) for some expensive (maybe dangerous) hardware that the enemy can blow up.
- Gravityloss 5y ago
  Makes a lot of sense. Some of the aviation could be changed quite a lot if fuel savings was more weighed. For example tankers and transports could be turboprop, maybe use more smaller higher L/D drones instead of F-18:s if not absolute needed etc...
  - PaulHoule 5y ago
    I used to really like these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_8 but airlines that serve my airport have switched to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_CRJ100/200 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_CRJ100/200 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_ERJ_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_ERJ_family which are less fuel efficient but easier to maintain, an important consideration if you are flying in and out of small airports half the time.
    - Gravityloss 5y ago
      And they fly faster so one plane can make more trips per month. It shows how cheap fuel is...
  - Tossrock 5y ago
    Some tankers and transports already are turboprops, eg the C-130 family.
    - Gravityloss 5y ago
      That's true. C-2 Greyhound and the E-2 Hawkeye in the Navy. A-400 in Europe and An-70 in Ukraine.

PaulHoule 5y ago

The US Navy is talking about synthesizing aircraft fuel with nuclear power and direct carbon capture on aircraft carriers. An aircraft carrier has to slow down to take on fuel which reduces combat effectiveness (at full speed it can go a few miles while a ballistic missile in flight so it is hard to hit) they are probably paying upwards of $10/gal for fuel as it is. If synthetic fuel means they can operate independently of supplies for longer that's significant. The Army wants to synthesize fuels too because they are paying more like $50/gal to deliver fuel to forts in places like Afghanistan. They are considering crazy ideas like molten salt reactors, O'Neill style space solar power, etc. It's a matter though of trading a vulnerable and expensive supply chain (Ukraine didn't bother trying to stop the tanks charging towards Kyiv because the fuel trucks supplying them were a soft target) for some expensive (maybe dangerous) hardware that the enemy can blow up.

Gravityloss 5y ago
Makes a lot of sense. Some of the aviation could be changed quite a lot if fuel savings was more weighed. For example tankers and transports could be turboprop, maybe use more smaller higher L/D drones instead of F-18:s if not absolute needed etc...
- PaulHoule 5y ago
  I used to really like these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_8 but airlines that serve my airport have switched to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_CRJ100/200 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_CRJ100/200 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_ERJ_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_ERJ_family which are less fuel efficient but easier to maintain, an important consideration if you are flying in and out of small airports half the time.
  - Gravityloss 5y ago
    And they fly faster so one plane can make more trips per month. It shows how cheap fuel is...
- Tossrock 5y ago
  Some tankers and transports already are turboprops, eg the C-130 family.
  - Gravityloss 5y ago
    That's true. C-2 Greyhound and the E-2 Hawkeye in the Navy. A-400 in Europe and An-70 in Ukraine.