Some may argue that flying is not enviromentaly friendly at all. From the effort to make the materials to make the plane, plastics etc, none of it then is safe. Not to mention the fuel usage on production aircraft. Some will always be against "flying" "auto racing" "fill in the blank" because fuel is used. Lead or lead free it will still be an issue. Some arguments can be had for the additives in todays special MoGas blends for different parts of the country, those chemicals in the fuel are not good. What is the PPM for an auto for one year vs an aircraft using 5 gph flying with LL for one year?
Then they will go after the land used for the airports in the first place. Flying is for the affluent, remember? All the electric that goes into VOR's, Infrastructure to the airports, Radar. (what damage is that doing?) The carbon footprint that flying entails? (rental cars, etc) The finger pointers are out numbered by the folks they point the finger at, but for some reason yell louder.
I do not believe "electric" planes will be an answer for some time, or will be another "accepted" alternative by the proper "people". On one hand hate the Chinese, but love their little electric airplane?
For example, on the Chevy Forums, a place I haven't been in a few years, arguments over the pros and cons of the Volt, about how its not good for the environment due to the battery pack, production methods, and on and on. 20% of the population will never be happy about anything, and the other 80% pay for it. The same can be said for the Prius and Escape battery packs, good for 3 years--then what. These are the same people that use wood burners to heat their homes, and tell you that having dogs and cats are bad for the environment. One of the reasons I stay away from forums.
Having said all that, I am an EAA member because I like to see "regular" people build and fly airplanes. A certain percentage are "affluent" which is fine, but I would say that a larger percentage of us are not.
To see the people over at Sonex moved toward an electric aircraft, I applaud them. Practical? Not sure. If you build a glider and can use that energy to get up to soar, then it might be. A Cessna 150 electric? Not so sure. Based on current technology, electric aircraft may exceed performance of electric cars. Who can say? The right technology for the right application?
Every so often "we just don't know". We just don't know what fuel to go to, we just don't know if it will really work in all GA aircraft, we just don't know if we checked it for safety enough. We are just people after all.
Are we doing enough to get people interested into GA? I believe the ranks will continue to fall, as the "great generation" of fliers leaves us, and those in their late 60's fill their spots, I can see GA going the way of service organizations like the Lions Club. Smaller bases of interest will leave us with fewer pilots or people interested in flying. And if user fees get inacted, I can see less people even think of flying.
So mabey with that thought process in mind, should I even bother getting my Sport Pilot Licence this spring, start to build an aircraft this fall? Investing
60K into an aircraft that may be unable to fly due to fuel restrictions 10 years from now?
Yup, totaly off topic at this point.