“...and will argue that the aviation industry always seeks to lower its costs (like any business), especially the biggest ones: labor and fuel. This is true...”
So one builds a more fuel efficient plane that more people will buy so they can make more money. I know they had a LOT of problems because of them parting out so much to other countries - but that was also done to promote the bottom line “Okay, your country can make the landing gear but you have to order 10 planes from us.”
I have NO IDEA why the writer brings this Lithium batteries into the fray when he blames Boeing for being “Green”. Perhaps they are lighter than other batteries? Run things that used to be run by the engine power? That would have been interesting to know - then one might be able to agree that they pushed the “fuel efficiency” thing a bit too far for current technology.
He’s written about it in prior articles and LI batteries are lighter.
Here’s one:
http://nlpc.org/stories/2013/01/22/boeings-green-dreamliner-costing-company-and-customers-plenty
“As a complement to the constant push by the Obama administration and environmental groups to kill fossil fuels by artificially driving up their costs via regulations, they have promoted the increased use of electricity (as though fossil fuels have nothing to do with its generation) as a replacement. The implications of that have led to seemingly desperate, and still elusive, attempts (through billions of dollars in “research” and subsidies for Obama-crony “green” companies) to make storage of electricity viable. And with lithium-ion the major technology of choice for battery advancement, that too has become a concern for safety in a seeming trade-off for efficiency.”