Posted: Thursday, December 08, 2011 12:00 PM A worker fuels an
Alaska Airlines plane Nov. 9 in Seattle, Wash. Alaska says it is
operating 75 flights using a 20 percent biofuel blend made from
used cooking oil. Scientists question whether subsidies will
wean America off fossil fuels By MITCH LIES Outwardly, little
distinguished two Alaska Airlines flights that departed Seattle
Nov. 9. The flights, however, marked what may be the beginning
of a new era in aviation. The flights -- one to Washington,
D.C., and the other to Portland -- were the airline's first
powered by biofuels. Alaska plans to use a 20 percent blend of
biofuel in a total of 75 Boeing 737 flights. Though the fuel
costs about five times as much as fossil fuels -- regular jet
fuel costs an average of $4.92 a gallon -- company officials
said the flights were an attempt to show farmers and biofuel
processors that demand exists for the alternative jet fuel. Use
of the alternative fuels -- the jet fuel was made from used
cooking oil -- will reduce gre