It’s not difficult to imagine a hybrid system at some point in the near future, and/or other ways of reducing the carbon footprint. Focus on those positive things, rather than “this will never be completely green, so why bother?”
You are putting words in my mouth, I never said that.
The industry has been reducing emissions per mile pretty much since it was founded. Looking at that graph I posted it is having the opposite effect to what we want. Jevon's paradox and all that.
My personal solution was to stop flying, I haven't got on a plane for 19 years. I'm not sure that is palatable to most people here though, it certainly isn't to the airline industry.
The article mentions the delta wing design may save 20% on fuel consumption. However those gains are completely swallowed by the traffic increase which is about +30% every 10 years if I remember correctly.
The target for 2050 is completely unrealistic, considering the traffic increase and the long cycles of the aviation industry. It may be achieved with hydrogen, assuming it can be produced in large enough quantities with renewables.
"should we therefor not even attempt it?"
Oh they certainly want to look as if they were trying to reach there objectives ... for the moment it is business as usual. The production of conventional, kerosene powered planes has never been so high and still increasing.
The heavier a plane is, the more fuel it needs. But fuel has weight, too, which means you need even more fuel! Reducing fuel consumption translates to exponential operational savings.This is also why planes with batteries are problematic: batteries store much less energy per kg than fossil fuel. I doubt that the increased efficiency in going electric is going to offset the extra consumption due to the increased weight.
Even if they reduce emissions by 50% by 2050, flying will still produce ~5 more times CO2 than taking the train. And guess, what? The railway industry is also working to reduce emissions and with trains there's just so much more you can improve with much less investment.
By 2050, aviation might very well produce ~20 times the emissions of railways, even though it has halved its emissions.So, with our current knowledge, the best way to reduce aviation emissions is...taking the train.