Dimensional Energy combines revolutionary
carbon utilization technology with a century-old process,
repurposing it to make sustainable aviation fuel
United has invested more in sustainable
aviation fuel production than any other airline in the
world
CHICAGO, June 15,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- United and United Airlines
Ventures (UAV) today announced an investment in and commercial
agreement with Dimensional Energy, another step forward to reach
United's 100% green net zero commitment by 2050, without the use of
traditional carbon offsets. Dimensional Energy's novel technology
removes the need for fossil fuels, converting carbon dioxide and
water into usable ingredients for the Fischer-Tropsch process – a
nearly 100-year-old proven technology used to produce fuels from
coal or methane. While facilities around the world continue to use
Fischer-Tropsch to produce fossil fuels, Dimensional will be one of
the first to use it to produce sustainable aviation fuels
(SAF).
Under the commercial agreement, United has agreed to purchase at
least 300 million gallons of SAF over 20 years from Dimensional.
This agreement further cements United's status as an airline
industry leader in sustainability. United's SAF agreements
represent the largest volume of SAF of any airline over the next 20
years, based on publicly announced agreements.
"Sometimes you have to look to the past to solve new problems,
and we recognize that decarbonizing air travel is going to require
combining proven technologies, such as Fischer-Tropsch, with the
latest advances in science and engineering," said Michael Leskinen, President of United Airlines
Ventures. "As we grow our portfolio of companies like Dimensional,
we are creating opportunities to scale these early-stage
technologies and achieve United's commitment carbon neutrality by
2050, without the use of traditional carbon offsets."
Dimensional Energy was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 2016 and has spent the
last six years refining its reactors and catalysts in both lab and
real-world demonstrations. The company's early success led to its
status as a finalist in the first Carbon Xprize, and in
September 2021, global climate
technology nonprofit investor Elemental Excelerator funded
Dimensional as part of its 10th cohort, which led to the company's
introduction to United. Dimensional has also received grants from
the National Science Foundation and both the Department of Energy's
ARPA-e and Solar Energy Technology Office (SETO). The company began
construction on a carbon dioxide to fuels demo in Tucson, Arizona in 2021. Commissioning of the
facility has already begun, and it is set to begin operation this
July.
"Dimensional Energy is acutely focused on energy solutions that
center communities who have been marginalized in the past century
as infrastructure and energy systems were developed. We envision a
world run on truly conflict-free energy that can scale to meet the
global demand for hydrocarbon fuels and feedstocks. United's
support of sustainable aviation fuel made from captured emissions
is an important step in the aviation industry's pursuit of carbon
neutrality," said Dimensional Energy Co-founder and CEO
Jason Salfi.
Dimensional's technology can run on all forms of renewable
energy. At the Tucson site, they
are using electricity from the Arizona grid, which gets an increasing amount
of power from local solar panels. Future plants are slated to use
hydro-power, wind-power and rapidly maturing concentrated
solar, which utilizes heat from direct sunlight.
Dimensional can also utilize carbon dioxide from a variety of
sources, be it straight from industrial sites (like cement plants),
from Direct Air Capture (a technology that can capture
CO2 from anywhere in the world), and biological
processes like fermentation and biomass gasification.
Today's announcement marks UAV's fourth SAF-related technology
investment, but its first the pathway of power-to-liquids: which
creates SAF synthetically without the constraints of feedstock
growth that is prevalent in other biofuel pathways. Launched in
2021, UAV targets startups, upcoming technologies, and
sustainability concepts that will complement United's goal of net
zero emissions by 2050 – without relying on traditional carbon
offsets. Over the last decade, United has built a first-of-its-kind
sustainability-focused ventures fund. UAV's portfolio now includes
SAF producers and other technologies including carbon capture,
hydrogen-electric engines, electric regional aircraft, and urban
air mobility.
United's 100% green
commitment
Here are some of the ways United plans to make sustainability
the new standard in flight:
- In May, United became the first U.S. carrier to sign an
overseas SAF fuel purchase, with Neste for more than 50 million
gallons of SAF to initially fuel United flights out of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
- In March, UAV invested in synthetic biology company Cemvita
Factory for them to begin R&D efforts to bioengineer
microbes with the express purpose of creating SAF.
- In December 2021, United
purchased an equity stake in hydrogen-electric engine developer
ZeroAvia, becoming the largest airline to invest in
zero-emission engines for regional aircraft.
- In December 2021, UAV became the
first in aviation history to fly an aircraft with passengers using
100% SAF in one engine.
- In September 2021, United agreed
to purchase up to 1.5 billion gallons of SAF paired with an
investment by UAV in Alder Fuels - enough to fly more than
57 million passengers.
- United is also an investor in Fulcrum BioEnergy, where
United has an option to purchase up to 900 million gallons of
SAF.
- In July 2021, UAV announced that
along with Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Mesa Airlines,
it invested in electric aircraft startup Heart Aerospace. Heart
Aerospace is developing the ES-19, a 19-seat electric aircraft
that has the potential to fly customers with zero emissions when
powered by renewable electricity.
- In July 2021, Air Transport World
magazine named United its Eco-Airline of the Year for the second
time, and the third time to its top environmental honor.
- In February 2021, United
announced an agreement to work with Archer Aviation to
accelerate the development and production of their electric
aircraft – an urban mobility solution that has the potential to
serve as an 'air taxi,' giving United customers another opportunity
to reduce their carbon footprint before they even board a United
flight.
- In 2019, United operated the Flight for the Planet, which at
the time represented the most-eco-friendly commercial flight of its
kind in the history of commercial aviation.
- In 2018, United became the first U.S. airline to commit to
reducing its GHG emissions, by 50% by 2050. This goal has since
been superseded by the airline's 100% green net zero
commitment.
- In 2016, United became the first airline globally to use SAF in
regular operations on a continuous basis with SAF from World
Energy.
About United
United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the
World." From our U.S. hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los
Angeles, New
York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., United operates the most
comprehensive global route network among North American carriers.
United is bringing back our customers' favorite destinations and
adding new ones on its way to becoming the world's best airline.
For more about how to join the United team, please
visit www.united.com/careers and more information about
the company is at www.united.com. United Airlines Holdings, Inc.,
the parent company of United Airlines, Inc., is traded on the
Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".
About Dimensional Energy
Dimensional Energy envisions a world free from fossil fuel
dependency. We use carbon dioxide emissions as a replacement for
fossil carbon to make the fuels and products people use every day.
Our team of subject matter experts come from all over the world
with a shared purpose of making the sustainable materials necessary
for a truly circular economy and bringing about climate justice for
all. Our technology can produce energy locally, at a scale that can
satisfy global demand without extracting resources or fomenting
conflict. As we scale, our operations will center the voices of
historically marginalized communities, and we are open to activists
and journalists, whose perspectives we rely on to remain
accountable and effective. Our practices are anchored in the
seventh generation principle of the Haudenosaunee, whereby all
decisions take into consideration the needs of a minimum of seven
generations into the future. Learn more at
www.dimensionalenergy.com.
United Cautionary Statement
Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. All statements that are not statements of historical facts
are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and
current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about
our future financial results, goals, plans, commitments, strategies
and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and
uncertainties, known or unknown, including internal or external
factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, that are
difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause our
future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ
materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements.
These risks, assumptions, uncertainties, and other factors include,
among others, any delay or inability of United to realize the
expected benefits of the transaction. No forward-looking statement
can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release
should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties
that affect United's business and market, particularly those
identified in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors"
sections in United's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2021, as updated by our
subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form
8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The forward-looking statements included in this document are made
only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise
required by applicable law or regulation, United undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events,
changed circumstances or otherwise.
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SOURCE United Airlines