I have written in the past about airships as a green option to today’s dirty aviation. Since the disaster with Hindenburg in May 1937 we haven’t heard much from them. But now, when the fuel prices are rising, more and more people are looking towards their direction again.

This week the US navy announced that they were going to acquire a Skyship 600 (see picture above), which is almost as large as a Boeing 747. The manned airship will help the US coast guard chase smugglers between Florida’s southern coast and Cuba.

George Spyrou, president of Airship Management Services Inc, said that the airship is “considered a very green machine,” and added that a “regular jet uses more fuel to travel from the gate to the taxiway than we would to fly for a whole week.”

Remember my old post about airships – the rebirth of aviation? Maybe you thought I was a complete tree-hugger lunatic that proposed airships as a greener and better option besides today’s polluting planes?

Well, here is further evidence that Airships is to play a big part in the future of aviation. EcoGeek lists three different airships that, as it seems, have a very bright future ahead of them.

The EcoGeek talks about the Aeroscraft – a commercial transport for tourists, the SkyCat – made for shipping and finally the SkyFreighter – who is (just like its name) focused on shipping large cargo.

Aviation is the fastest growing cause of climate change, it destroys ancient forests and woodland, wiping established communities off the map and airport expansions destroys important heritage sites and causes illegal levels of nitrous oxide pollution. Today’s aviation industry is unquestionably an awful way of transporting people and goods.

With a well funded public transportation system nationally and globally most flights can stay on the ground, especially the domestic flights. In a global perspective high-speed railways can easily connect and transport people between different countries fast, easy and cheap.

Europe is an excellent example where this can easily be implemented. Swissmetro, a huge railroad project in Europe is already taking form. The idea is that high-speed trains will travel across Europe with a speed of over 500 kilometres per hour in tunnels and tubes, similar to small subway systems in large cities.

If you want, you can with today’s technology build a railroad tunnel under the water in the Atlantic Ocean. It will then be possible to travel between London and New York with high-speed trains in less than two hours.

But of course railroads doesn’t work everywhere. This is where airships come in. The Forum for the future, FFF, has launched aproject that shows how we can live in 2022 in a much more environmental friendly way than we do today. One of the many ideas presented is airships.

According to FFF airships emits about 80% – 90% less carbon dioxide than a jet aeroplane. The airships would also be much more pleasant to travel in than today’s flights:

On holiday routes, passengers are treated to 360 degree views, a lounge area, gym, restaurant and bar. For business passengers, airships are equipped with open-plan office space and state-of-the-art virtual windows, so that they can have meetings with people anywhere in the world, and carry on working efficiently and comfortably throughout the journey.

George Monbiot, an environmental and political activist in the United Kingdom, has praised airships and says it will take less than 48 hours to travel between London and New York with an airship.

So, as you can see, we have all the technology and knowledge we need. We just need political and financial will to see the world and all the different options we have in a new, more modern, greener light.