Green Rockets

Speaking of greenwashing.

From the Albuquerque Journal comes the press release about an architectural design for the Spaceport being "unveiled to acclaim".

This reported acclaim comes solely from the company president who, as far as I can tell, hasn't put a dime of his own money into this thing yet except perhaps to pay the marketing firm that musta written this.

Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn said Tuesday he was "delighted" by the design plans unveiled for a $31-million, environmentally friendly hangar and terminal facility at Spaceport America. (...)

A glazed facade on one side of the building will provide natural light and allow tourists and visitors to watch runway activity. Whitehorn said the building was designed to minimize its impact on the environment, both atmospherically and aesthetically. Rooftop solar panels will generate electricity for the building and LED runway lights, and the structure will be set into the ground to take advantage of natural heating and cooling. It will also have water recycling capabilities.

"It's almost carbon-neutral," Whitehorn said, referring to the recently popularized concept of building vehicles or structures that balance out fossil fuel use with renewable energy sources. Furthermore, its low-lying profile will fit with its desert environment, Whitehorn said. "This building points the way to a different approach to design," he said. "Most architects these days ... are still trying to lord over nature and push technology up into the sky. Now, the atmosphere up above is what we need to be thinking about, and how to preserve it."

Is it just too damn obvious to point out the ungreenlyness of torching rocket fuel for space joyrides? Or to note the fact that we are paying for this silly Spaceport with oil and gas taxes - taxes paid for the sacrifice of the San Juan Basin's water, soil and air quality? For a NASCAR for the rich?

Nothing green about it.

Comments

[scot]

Next thing you know, we'll be told to get excited about a diamond mine outside Hillsboro, or nuclear-powered yachts fueled by uranium unearthed (again) outside Crownpoint. It must be tough to be super-rich, what with the need for new, exciting drugs and toys and all.

[Keith M Ellis]

"Is it just too damn obvious to point out the ungreenlyness of torching rocket fuel for space joyrides?"

You are aware, aren't you, that rocket fuel doesn't use petrocarbons, and for the most part the result of burning it is water?

And the use of oil and gas taxes is obviously not inherently "ungreen"—that there are special taxes on oil and gas that are used for the common good is, in fact, pretty green as a rule.

I'm ambivalent about the Spaceport, or perhaps my attitude is better described as unenthusiastic and uninterested (in spite of my interest in space science), but an argument that it's not green is just silly.

[coco]

Keith:

Calling rocket rides "green" would be silly. Not the other way around.

But this story did neither. It greenwashed a runway and terminal building design that we paid for. Silly that.

Here's more on Branson:

http://green.itweek.co.uk/2007/02/bransons_climat.html