{"id":43283,"date":"2015-11-30T14:14:48","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T13:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/environnement-le-ciel-passerait-il-enfin-au-vert-20151130.html"},"modified":"2016-02-10T10:36:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T09:36:10","slug":"environment-will-the-sky-finally-turn-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/environment-will-the-sky-finally-turn-green","title":{"rendered":"Environment - Is the sky finally turning green?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Airlines\"<\/p>\n

Air transport accounts for only 2 % of global CO2 emissions, or 705 million tonnes out of a total of 36 billion generated by all human activity. Yet the sector is constantly being singled out whenever environmental protection is mentioned. For several years now, aviation has been at the centre of numerous international controversies. Its detractors accuse it of generating unnecessary pollution, with air travel still seen in the collective unconscious as \"luxury transport\". This is without taking into account the fact that this mode of transport is an essential tool for the economic development of a nation, or even an entire region. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that aviation contributes 610 billion dollars to global GDP and supports nearly 67 million direct and indirect jobs worldwide.<\/p>\n

It is true that, with its strong growth over the last two decades, air transport has not presented a very \"sustainable\" image. For years, the very idea of \"polluting aircraft\" was dismissed out of hand, not only by manufacturers and airlines, but also by airports and global aviation organisations. All this was done in the name of technological progress - it was still the time when people admired Concorde - and also, it has to be said, because of a certain arrogance on the part of the industry. After all, where would the world be without air transport? And above all, where would the consumer, eager for exotic holidays, go without these beloved flying machines?<\/p>\n

The discourse began to change in the early 90s, when IATA and aircraft manufacturers were confronted with the growing environmental awareness in developed economies. Even if, in reality, the sector's commitment to the fight against global warming and greenhouse gases goes back some thirty years. The most obvious example is paraffin consumption. Let's take the example of Concorde, a technological marvel but an ecological disaster. The aircraft consumed an average of 20 tonnes of paraffin per hour, almost twice as much as a conventional Boeing 747. Its average consumption per passenger was 14 litres per 100 km travelled... In 2007, this figure had fallen to 4.02 litres on a long-haul aircraft. It fell to 3.5 litres in 2015, according to the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration nationale de l'aviation marchande (FNAM), a drop of 13 % due to the introduction of new, much more fuel-efficient aircraft.<\/p>\n

A closer look at the figures shows that air transport actually accounts for relatively little of the overall environmental damage caused by human activity. According to the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), an association representing all air transport stakeholders, aviation generates 13 % of all carbon dioxide emissions from transport. By comparison, according to the ICAO - the world civil aviation organisation - road transport accounts for 74 % of actual CO2 emissions!<\/p>\n

Small footprint<\/h2>\n

With traffic doubling every fifteen years on average, air transport is not standing still and is working to reduce its environmental footprint. IATA has set strict targets for the entire industry, with the aim of reducing fuel consumption by 1.5 % per year by 2020 and achieving zero growth in CO2 emissions by the same date. And by 2050, the industry will have to reduce its net carbon dioxide emissions by 50 % compared with 2005. \"We have already surpassed our short-term targets for the energy efficiency of our industry<\/em>\"As Tony Tyler, IATA's Director General, said at the Paris Air Show.<\/p>\n

Aeronautical technology is at the forefront of efforts to limit the sector's environmental footprint. Much lighter thanks to the use of composite materials, new generation aircraft require less energy to fly. Composite materials make up more than half of the components used to produce the Boeing 787-9 and the Airbus A350, the two most recent long-haul aircraft in service, compared with 11 % for the Boeing 777 and 30 % for the Airbus A380. Lighter weight means lower fuel consumption: IATA estimates that today's aircraft are 70 % more fuel-efficient than the first jets of the 1960s, the Caravelle or Boeing 707. Fuel consumption for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 is down by between 25 % and 30 % compared with their predecessors. And manufacturers are now working to lower this threshold to 40 %. A goal that is no longer utopian!<\/p>\n

While aircraft are still largely dependent on paraffin for propulsion, many airlines are working with the aviation industry to find alternatives, in particular biofuels. While the first tests of pure biofuels, obtained from raw materials of plant origin, animal fats or recycled waste, are not yet fully developed, the industry is using a mixture of paraffin and ethanol obtained from the fermentation of sugar beet, sugar cane, maize or potato starch, or even straw. Researchers are also working on the use of seaweed in the creation of new-generation biofuels, an initiative supported, for example, by the Spanish company Iberia.<\/p>\n

The Europeans are among the most advanced in these tests. The first tests were carried out by KLM on the Amsterdam-Paris route in June 2011, followed by Lufthansa on the Hamburg-Frankfurt route and Finnair on the Amsterdam-Helsinki route in July of the same year. Air France followed with a flight from Toulouse to Paris in October 2011, using 50 % of biofuel. Since then, some 1,600 flights have been operated by around twenty airlines. The first intercontinental route using an alternative biofuel was operated by Aeromexico on Mexico-Madrid in August 2011, followed by KLM in 2012, between Amsterdam and Rio. In Asia, Thai Airways was the first to experiment with biofuel with a Boeing 777 on the Bangkok-Chiang Mai route in late 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Sugar<\/p>\n

Organic fuel<\/h2>\n

The tests are continuing. The French Civil Aviation Authority has joined forces with Air France as part of its \"LabLine for the future\" operation. Since 21 October 2014, and on a weekly basis until last September, the airline has carried out a weekly biofuel flight on the Paris-Toulouse route, mixing 10 % of farnesane - a component developed by Total - with its conventional fuel. This blend reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 % compared with paraffin of fossil origin. Also last year, SAS, Lufthansa and KLM signed an agreement with Statoil Aviation, the paraffin supplier at Oslo airport, for regular refuelling with biofuel, an initiative that has been effective since March 2015. For its part, British Airways will be one of the first airlines to use a clean fuel produced from recycled waste.<\/p>\n

\"Reduce<\/p>\n

Other technical aspects are helping - or will help - to reduce paraffin consumption. For some years now, winglets have been fitted to aircraft wingtips. Admittedly, the accessory is not very aesthetic, but it neutralises the drag left by an aircraft, thereby recovering some of the energy released by the marginal vortex. The concept may be technical, but it translates into an average energy saving of 2 %! Work on aircraft aerodynamics should reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 35 % to 50 % by around 2025. In addition, new propulsion engine technologies will help to reduce fuel consumption by 15 % to 30 % by 2030.<\/p>\n

Finally, airlines are also racking their brains to find a thousand and one ways of lightening the weight of aircraft, particularly in the cabin, by installing lighter seats, recycling waste and reducing the volume of water in the cabin. The same applies to on-board service, with melamine crockery, which is lighter than ceramic dishes, and the introduction of a new generation of service trolleys. Another initiative: by transferring flight manuals, flight itineraries and instructions to tablets for its pilots and flight attendants, American Airlines is saving up to 17 kg of paper on each aircraft. As for Singapore Airlines' low-cost carrier Scoot, replacing the individual video system with iPads has enabled it to save 7 % on the weight of its aircraft. It may not sound like much, but when you add it all up, it all adds up to the weight of an aircraft.<\/p>\n

\"Not<\/p>\n

Shorter flight times<\/h2>\n

All these efforts by the aviation industry are accompanied by numerous initiatives on the part of airports and civil aviation, as the authorities seek to reduce noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in concert. The European Union is working to create a Single European Sky (SES) with a centralised and streamlined system for managing aircraft movements. According to IATA, such a procedure should make it possible to accommodate more than 20 million flights a year, while generating a reduction of 18 million tonnes of CO2 emissions and fuel savings of six billion euros! In concrete terms, the introduction of the Single Sky will mean shorter flight times, by an average of 10 minutes. IATA estimates that the rationalisation of flight routes, the reduction in flight delays and the increased capacity for air movements at major airports should reduce airlines' operating costs. Even if Europe often gives the impression of being slow in implementing the Single Sky, progress has already been made. The rationalisation of air routes is already a reality, with the adoption of direct point-to-point routes having reduced the distances flown by aircraft by 12 %, or nearly 15 million km.<\/p>\n

Last but not least in this battle to protect the environment: airports. Here again, the activity of air platforms is mainly linked to the noise pollution generated by aircraft movements. In France, the DGAC has drawn up a guide to noise maps for civil and military airports. For several years now, the twelve major French airports have had noise measurement systems available to the public, combined with operating restrictions. For example, Paris Charles de Gaulle is banned from landing noisy aircraft between 10pm and 6am. Any infringement is heavily penalised, with fines of up to \u20ac40,000 for non-compliance with night-time restrictions or noise performance. In addition to these measures, the introduction of new equipment should contribute to this effort to reduce noise. According to Lufthansa's annual environmental report, today's aircraft are 80 % quieter than those of the 1950s. An Airbus A319 at 300 metres altitude is no noisier than a lorry on the road.<\/p>\n

At the same time, airports are working on new take-off and landing procedures. Continuous descent or circular-arc approaches reduce both paraffin consumption and the noise felt by the populations overflown. In Scandinavia, SAS pioneered these \"green\" landings. In this way, the aviation industry is demonstrating that it can reduce its environmental impact and become the model for a more virtuous world as it grows.<\/p>\n