The World’s Cheapest Way To Fight Global Warming

Emissions from airplanes are currently responsible for an estimated 3.5% of human-caused global warming. Researchers at Breakthrough Energy may be able to help lower this. When flying, aircraft leave behind condensation trails (contrails) that form artificial clouds which end up trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Reducing these contrails is, in the words of one researcher, “the highest-leverage climate opportunity that we know of.”

New research shows this can be done by using machine learning to help aircraft avoid flying through “humid ice supersaturated regions of the atmosphere” using only simple adjustments to flying altitude throughout a flight, something that pilots are already accustomed to doing. After making the discovery, a research team worked with American Airlines to use their predictions on about 70 flights between January and March of 2023 and found that contrail creation was reduced by 54% on those flights.

It’s not yet a no-brainer, though, due to the fact that these flights also consumed about 2% more fuel (not an insignificant amount) to make those flights. These adjustments may also present some challenges for air traffic controllers. Given the urgency of the global warming problem, it seems clear that within a matter of years (if not sooner) these challenges will be minor obstacles and this solution will gain widespread adoption.