European and Japanese initiatives for eco-friendly aircrafts
Carbon fibre can reduce the weight of an aircraft by 50%. Aircraft manufacturers are increasingly using it to drive up fuel-efficiency, and Japanese suppliers are in on the game. Teijin Ltd., a producer of carbon fibre composite material, announced yesterday it will supply Airbus SAS with components for the A350 XWB from 2011 to 2025. Toray Industries Inc already supplies Boeing, whose 787 Dreamliner leads the new fleet of environmentally friendly aircraft.
The incorporation of carbon fibre is essential to the aircraft industry’s ambitions to reduce emissions. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) agreed to cut net carbon emissions by 50% and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80% by 2050. "International aviation emissions were not included in the Kyoto Protocol 12 years ago. Now we have a chance to rectify that omission – and we must seize it,” said Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, quoted last year in Green Wise Business. Between 2001 and 2009, fuel efficiency already improved by 17%.
Biofuels are another clean-energy alternative. The first flight using pure biofuel extracted from algae passed over the Berlin Air Show on June 8. Unveiled by European Aeronautical Defence and Space Company (EADS), it produced 8 times less hydrocarbons than kerosene, 40% less nitrogen oxide, and one sixtieth of the sulpher oxides. The amount of CO2 released during the flight was the same as the amount absorbed by the algae during its growth. Despite its benefits though, it remains a costlier option than sourced crude oil.
Japan too is making strides in biofuel. In the August issue of EURObiZ, Christoper Thomas speaks to Prof. Makoto Watanabe of Tsukuba University, whose research is being funded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and a consortium of 13 companies. Japan could replace its oil imports using algae grown on only half of the nation’s disused farmland, Watanabe says.
Interviewed in next month’s Talking EURObiZ, Glen Fukushima, President and CEO of Airbus Japan, sees strong demand for aircraft, especially in Asia. “In the next 20 or so years there will be a need for more than 24,000 new passenger aircraft and 850 new freighters,” he says.
According to Bethan Owen of the Dalton Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University , this strong demand, spurred by economic growth, could likely offset cleaner energy innovations. The rate of technological development will need to accelerate.