[user-the-name]

This is 100% correct. The last thing we need is more inefficient aviation for the super-rich.

[mrfusion]

Would you have said the same thing about the Tesla roadster 20 years ago?

[ClumsyPilot]

No, because physics. Electric engines are twice more energy efficient than their ICE cousins.

Supersonic jets are 2-3 times less energy efficient than 'normal' jets, and all methods to make them carbon neutral can be applied to both modes of transport.

[lnsru]

You are forgetting one thing: how the electricity is generated. Nuclear reactor is clean, hydro energy from waterfall in Norway is even better. Or a coal power plant in Germany. Electric engine might be super efficient. But at the end it could also be coal powered vehicle.

[user-the-name]

And?

[lnsru]

Efficiency does not matter when you burn coal!

[BenjiWiebe]

Wouldn't it be nice if we could half our coal usage by doubling efficiency of everything using it?

[ignoramous]

Historically, things that were only meant for the super rich eventually got commoditised for everyone. And: Under current capitalist regimes, this is how humans push the envelope of possibilities, like it or not.

Climate crisis is urgent but token efforts to strike down nascent businesses on the cutting-edge such as Boom is not how the world solves it (discounting the fact that Boom has a path forward to be carbon-neutral: https://boomsupersonic.com/sustainability)

[user-the-name]

> Historically, things that were only meant for the super rich eventually got commoditised for everyone

That would make the situation much, much worse.

> Under current capitalist regimes, this is how humans push the envelope of possibilities, like it or not

"Not" would be the choice there. This is exactly the reason why we are in this crisis.