Energy in Aviation

View from an Aerospace company

What do we include in ‘aviation’• Civil commercial:

– Passenger travel

– Freight

• Civil government agency

– Search and rescue

– Police

– Medical

• Military

– Training

– Refugee relief

– warfare

Effects of aviation on society

Good

• Air travel– Business

– Holidays

• Freight movements

• Safety & rescue

• Aerospace/aviation industry jobs; exports; wealth in economy

Bad

• Green-house gas emissions

• Noise

• Land-use

• Crashes/danger

Aircraft effects on the environment• Aircraft fuel combustion gases:

– CO2; NOX; O3; hydrocarbons

– Contrails; cirrus formation

• Aircraft noise

• Aircraft manufacturing processes

• Aircraft servicing processes

Related impacts

• Land use for airports

• Ground transportation to airports eg car travel

• Freight transport to airports

Industry/SBAC actions

• Impact of aviation is important

• Industry and SBAC seeking solutions

• Established working committees and action groups

• Reports; programmes; commitments for action and

change

Focus for this discussion

1. Energy use for flying aircraft

2. Land use for an airport

Energy use for aircraft

• Greenhouse gas production from aircraft:

– CO2; NOX; O3; hydrocarbons

• About 36 million tonnes of CO2 are produced by aircraft

in the skies over the UK

• This represents about 5% of the CO2 generated in the

UK

• Growth rate of about 6% per annum

Mechanisms for energy/CO2

reduction• New engine technology

• Better aerodynamic design

• Larger aircraft

• ‘better’ air traffic control

• Bio-fuels

• Carbon offsets

• Carbon trading

• Fuel tax

Or….

FLY LESS

Progress on CO2 reduction

• 1960 – 1990 = 70% reduction in fuel per RTK

• 1990 – 2004 = 24% reduction in fuel RTK

RTK = revenue tonne kilometre

ACARE emission targets

• 50% improvement in fuel efficiency per seat kilometre

• 80% reduction in NOX generated

• By 2020 on new aircraft of 2020 vs aircraft of 2000

Land use for Cambridge airport

• Cambridge Airport covers about 730 acres of land within

the Cambridge City green-belt

• Has a 1965 metre Category 1 runway

• About 130 aircraft movements a day (on average)

Change of ‘zoning’

• Cambridge Airport has been in the ‘green-belt’ and

therefore not eligible for housing development

• There has been a local campaign to stop flying from

Cambridge Airport

• The UK government wants to see an increase in housing

in the South East, eg Cambridge

• Current plans are to remove Cambridge Airport from the

green-belt and ‘re-zone’ it for housing

Status

• These plans are under development and have not been

confirmed

• Marshall Aerospace would move to another location;

possibly Alconbury, Wyton or Mildenhall

• Other locations are all pleased to have Marshall re-

locate

Environmental issues

• Marshall Aerospace has an environmental team to

ensure compliance with all relevant legislation

• In addition, there is an Environmental Committee that

aims to identify changes that will reduce environmental

impact

Summary: aviation

• The aviation industry is a major contributor to the UK

economy– Air travel; holidays; business trips

– New aerospace products

– Businesses and jobs

– Wealth in the economy

• Air travel is here to stay: we need– New technologies to reduce impact

– A sustainable growth rate

Summary: Marshall

• Focus on higher value-add products and service lines

• Introduce energy saving and environmental savings

wherever possible

• Work with aircraft manufacturers to make aircraft more

environmentally sustainable