Publication Name

KICK THE HABIT

THE CYCLE – REDUCE

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food, clothing or even work: in most industrialized countries, commuting ac-

counts for much of the energy used in moving around. Another is to improve

the efficiency of the vehicles that are used for transporting people or goods.

Airbus, which builds the super-jumbo A380 aircraft, says the industry’s per-

formance on

fuel consumption

is twice as good as in 1960, and the A380

Compared with ground vehicles, the prospect for replacing kerosene in aircraft engines

with low carbon alternatives looks far more difficult, from a technological and econom-

ic perspective. Potential alternatives must meet high demands: supporting extreme

cold, lightweight and low cost (kerosene not being subject to taxation) among others.

Meanwhile engineers and airlines are focussing on improved energy efficiency mainly

through better engines, lighter materials, increased capacity and lower fuel consump-

tion (by improving air traffic management and energy-saving flying techniques).

To apply market rules and adjust the price of air travel to the impact it gener-

ates, making other means of transport more attractive at the same time, is another

option for reducing emissions. Although emissions from aviation, just as from ship-

ping, are exempted from the Kyoto Protocol in any country’s emission target, the

European Commission has adopted a proposal to include aviation in the EU Emis-

sions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2011. For the post-Kyoto agreement after 2012,

the inclusion of aviation emissions could be one of the political solutions.

In 2006 the Scandinavian airline SAS began testing a new landing approach

called Continuous Descent Approach (CDA), where the landing itinerary is known

to the crew well enough in advance to let the pilot descend in neutral gear without

using the power of the engines until the release of the landing gear. Short-haul

jets save an average of 150 kilos of kerosene with this method. SAS has applied

the procedure for 2 000 landing approaches to Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. SAS

engineers calculated the potential savings in CO

emissions would have been more

than 50 000 tonnes had all 108 000 landings in the past year been handled in

this way. For the time being, CDA is restricted to airports with moderate traffic;

improvements in air traffic control co-ordination are necessary for denser air space.

Positive side-effects are improved security as the flight routes are known further

ahead, and reduced noise pollution. Sweden’s goal is that by 2012 three out of five

planes landing in Stockholm should use the CDA method. But further measures

will be needed to reach SAS’ target of 20 per cent CO

reduction by 2020.

uses less than three litres per passenger per 100 kilometres – the figure for a

small diesel-engined car. It says the plane’s CO

emissions are as low as 80g

per passenger per kilometre, half the figure for an average European car.

This figure however does not consider the non-CO

-related climate impact

of high altitude fuel combustion which is considered to result in two to four

times higher impact than from carbon emissions alone (see page 120).