A simple way to make flying less bad for the environment: just fly the planes at different altitudes

Get the Full StoryThere s just a narrow band of altitude that creates most of the contrails, the white residue left behind by planes that contributes to global warming.

Air travel has a big environmental footprint, and not only because of the fuel necessary to power a plane thousands of miles. Those wispy clouds an airplane leaves in its wake, called contrails, play a significant role in global warming, and researchers have said that as flights get more fuel efficient and air traffic gets worse, we ll see more, longer-lasting contrails, with harsher effects. But new research from Imperial College London suggests there may be an easy solution: diverting a few flights to slightly higher or lower altitudes, which could cut the climate impact of contrails by more than half.Read Full Story

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