On the top of the rollercoaster that is environmentalism once again, we find that Richard Branson, everyone’s favorite billionaire, is greening up the Virgin Atlantic skies. His Virgin Group is hoping to start producing clean biofuels hopefully by the beginning of the next decade.

Speaking at a Mortgage Bankers Association meeting in Boston, Branson said that Virgin hopes to provide clean biofuels to buses, trains and cars within the next three to four years.

However, of more immediate importance is the decision to test a Virgin Atlantic 747 on renewable fuel next year. "Early next year we will fly one of our 747s without passengers with one of the fuels that we have developed," Branson told the annual conference. The company is developing fuels in conjunction with Boeing Co and engine-maker GE Aviation, a unit of General Electric Co.

Virgin is in a race against Air New Zealand to be the first to test such a flight. Air New Zealand said that it hoped to run a test flight on a combination of biofuel and kerosene in late 2008, so Virgin at least has a deadline to try and beat.

Branson suggested that the more popular and well known biofuel – ethanol – would be unsuitable for aircraft. Ethanol freezes at 15,000 feet, making it extremely risky, despite measures that would be put in place. Butanol is a gas similar to gasoline, and is one of the options that Branson believes will work.

Branson is one of those billionaires that can see through the mess of politicism and criticism when it comes to global warming. He has pledged to spend all of the profit he makes off his 51% stake in Virgin’s airlines and rail businesses to fight global warming.

As part of that pledge, he has created Virgin Fuels, an initiative that has already invested $400 million over three years in renewable energy initiatives. Virgin Fuels hopes to have a branded biofuel product in the near future.

ENN - Virgin Atlantic 747 to test biofuel in early 2008

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