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Airlines : Making Carbon Balancing

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Airlines offering carbon balancing
1 Introduction
Aviation involves a range of activities that generate CO2 and other greenhouse gases, with passenger flight operations being the largest cause of the emission. Other sectors than the flight operation itself include manufacturing of aircraft and their components and maintenance, ground handling operation, transportation to and from airports and airport facilities, including retail outlets. To make the impact aviation has smaller, many airlines offer carbon balancing to their customers, so the customer can neutralize his or her emission proportion of a particular journey.
Carbon balancing is voluntary for the customer, as they pay an extra fee when booking their flight ticket in proportion…show more content…
2.1 Carbon
Carbon has the atomic number of six, and is identified with the symbol “C” on the periodic table. All living organisms contain carbon and it is a naturally abundant nonmetallic element. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe, and its role in the health and stability of the planet through the carbon cycle is crucial. The cycle is complex, and it shows the interconnection between organisms on Earth. Carbon bonds with a wide range of other elements, forming thousands of compounds, from the hardest substance on Earth, diamonds, to the softest one, graphite. Carbon actually is unique amongst the elements due to the number of compounds it can form. It is a component of rocks as well as coal, petroleum, and natural gas who are chiefly hydrocarbons. Carbon is present as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and dissolved in all natural waters. Carbon is key to life and by definition is present in all organic compounds.

2.2 Greenhouse gasses and their effects
Many chemical compounds found in the Earth’s atmosphere act as “greenhouse gases”. Greenhouse gases allow sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. When sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface, some of it is reflected back towards space as infrared radiation (heat). Greenhouse gases then absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere. Over time, the amount of energy sent from the sun to the Earth’s surface should be about the
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