Is there a primer on what exactly "SAF" or "low-carbon fuel" actually is? It's not "just" hydrogen, or is it?
It just sounds too convenient to be a real thing. "Oh, just use the LOW-carbon fuels. There's your problem!"
Edit: Not disputing the fact that electrical airplanes present a staggering affront to the laws of physics due to weight. Just seems like the "third alternative" here (to status quo or battery) is being taken for granted.
LH2 may, in fact, be low-carbon fuel, depending of course on how it was produced.
An LH2-powered aircraft would use exactly the electric turbines that Rolls-Royce just cancelled work on.
Once LH2-powered aircraft enter any given market, kerosene-powered craft would be wholly unable to compete. But it will take a long time to build up infrastructure for it. Ultimately, international airports will electrolyse their own LH2 using power delivered from regional solar and wind farms, but don't expect to see much of it before 2050.
> Once LH2-powered aircraft enter any given market, kerosene-powered craft would be wholly unable to compete.
Liquid hydrogen has about 1/4 the energy density of kerosene by volume. It's better per kilo which is nice for aircraft but you're still looking at finding lots more space in the structure for fuel or accepting that you can't fly very far. I don't see that being competitive with kerosene.
It's sort of still being defined. There's a rush to develop a universal SAF, but companies can develop blends of alternative fuel sources and get money back from the US government in the process.
It just sounds too convenient to be a real thing. "Oh, just use the LOW-carbon fuels. There's your problem!"
Edit: Not disputing the fact that electrical airplanes present a staggering affront to the laws of physics due to weight. Just seems like the "third alternative" here (to status quo or battery) is being taken for granted.