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2016-05-08
Europe,April 24, (China Daily)--Airlines and manufacturers explore renewable energy options
The global aviation industry has shown strong interest in working with its Chinese partners to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and cut carbon emissions as China increases its use of planes.
In a bid to gain an edge over its competitors, Boeing is paying attention to biofuel.
The company celebrated China's first commercial flight with sustainable aviation biofuel last month with its partners Hainan Airlines and Sinopec.
Wu Dongyang, the managing director in charge of research and technology at Boeing China, says the commercialization of aviation biofuel holds the key to reducing the aviation industry's environmental footprint.
"Aviation biofuel is the only alternative energy source when solar energy, fuel cells and nuclear power are not yet applicable to the aircraft manufacturing industry."
Wu says aviation biofuel offers a chance to reduce the industry's reliance on fossil fuels, which account for more than 35 percent of an airline's operating cost.
According to Boeing, sustainable aviation biofuel reduces carbon dioxide emissions between 50 and 80 percent on a life-cycle basis compared with fossil fuel.
The company's goal is to have sustainable aviation biofuel supply 1 percent (800 million gallons in 2014) of global jet fuel demand by 2016.
Earlier in April, Boeing announced that its Chinese client Hainan Airlines had introduced the Boeing Wind Updates solution into the airline's operations.
The application will increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption across the airline's global operations.
"Boeing Wind Updates will reduce fuel consumption and improve in-flight performance for Hainan Airlines aircraft fleets by providing customized, real-time wind and temperature information during every flight anywhere in the world," the company said.
SteivanDefilla, director at the Brussels-based Secretariat of the Energy Charter, an international treaty aiming to strengthen the rule of law in energy issues, says other alternative choices include hydrogen power as well as solar, biomass and even wind energies.
"My colleague Michael Graetzel, a professor at the Polytechnical School of Lausanne in Switzerland, has introduced a technology to produce hydrogen by solar means," he says.
The possibility of powering aircraft without fossil fuels comes as a plane attempting to become the world's first fixed-wing, solar-powered aircraft to fly around the world continues its voyage. Solar Impulse 2 landed in the East China city of Nanjing on April 21 after almost three weeks in the western Chinese city of Chongqing.
This west-to-east journey, of some 1,200 km, is the sixth leg of the plane's tour. The global trip involves more than 500 flight hours, or almost three weeks in the air, spread over more than five months and covering a distance of about 35,000 kilometers.
"Despite only a pilot on board, indeed it is an aircraft," says YannBarbaux, chief innovation officer at Airbus, "because it is flying and can even operate long-haul flight."
He says the progress and creativity of Solar Impulse will promote and encourage further research for a cleaner future in the transport sector.
"Having a solar energy airplane is a goal some aircraft manufacturers are targeting," Barbaux says.
He points out the main difficulties are not just the advancement of renewable energy and how to integrate it with aircraft, but long-term maintenance.
"We need to take all technological aspects into consideration, not only the technology itself," says Barbaux.
Airbus predicts rapid expansion in the global aviation sector.
"Passenger demand doubles every 15 years and by 2050 the air transport industry could be handling 16 billion passengers and 400 million tons of cargo annually."
Airbus has committed to Flightpath 2050, a project to significantly reduce emissions.
"We know China is investing a lot in solar cells," Barbaux says, "and we are willing to establish cooperation with China on R&D in that field as well as our successful collaboration in biofuel technology."
Barbaux's company set up a partnership a few years ago with Sinopec, the Chinese energy company, with the shared aim of a reduction in airline fuel consumption through local biofuel production in China.
Carbon emissions in the aviation sector are expected to increase with the continued and steady growth of traffic, according to Clean Sky, a research program under the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe.
"But there is the potential that at least 10 percent of fuel savings and CO2 emissions reduction can be achieved if European Union legislation can be enforced," says Paul Beeckmans, a senior adviser on transport and tourism issues at the European Parliament.
In addition to energy efficiency through better air traffic management, a cap and trade system is considered by the EU as a cost-effective tool to address and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, notably from large installations but also from aviation activities. The EU has accordingly included aviation emissions in the EU Emissions Trading Systems since 2012.
"But the scope of the EU ETS for aviation has been temporarily reduced to intra-European flights until 2016 to give full space to ongoing negotiations under the International Civil Aviation Organization for a global market-based measure," says Anna-KaisaItkonen, a representative of the European Commission for climate action and energy.
ICAO is presently working on a measure to address these emissions ahead of the 2016 ICAO Assembly.
The EU is calling for more concrete action to be put high on the agenda within an international framework.
"The EU will also produce a report and may propose a review of the legislation on the EU ETS, in particular as regards its scope, as specified under the legislation," says Itkonen.
If the scope to adapt EU ETS widens, the international airlines flying over European skies, including Chinese ones, will be faced with the same requirements as the European airlines.
Furthermore, with the EU-China "horizontal agreement" in preparation, the EU is also seeking more cooperation with China in civil aviation.
Future bilateral cooperation work may cover a wide range of matters such as safety, security, air traffic management, economic regulation and application of competition law as well.
Itkonen says: "Energy efficiency is one of the three priorities of the EU's secure, clean and efficient work program."
Apart from its efforts to support energy efficient buildings, industry, heating and cooling, SMEs and energy-related products and services, as well as to improve the attractiveness of energy efficiency investments, the European Union is also of the view that the new international agreement should be finalized in Paris.
"We should cover and address all sectors, including international aviation, during the discussion at the United Nations Climate Change Conference this December," says Itkonen.
She says all sectors need to contribute to the fight against climate change in order to meet the target agreed by the international community.
"The aviation sector should also bring a fair contribution in terms of greenhouse gas emission reductions, with a view not to undermine mitigation efforts made by other sectors or countries."
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