Electric airplanes are set to decarbonize the aviation industry, making the environment greener. But when can we expect to see full-electric airplanes in the sky?
The global aviation industry produces about two percent of all human-induced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Aviation is responsible for 12 percent of CO2 emissions from all transport sources, compared to 74 percent from road transport, according to the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG). In 2018, flights produced 895 million tonnes of CO2, worldwide. Globally, humans produced over 42 billion tonnes of CO2.
Aviation has brought great benefits to humanity; it has connected people and businesses across the world contributing to globalization and the expansion of international commerce. More recently, aviation and low-cost travel have opened the world to thousands of remote workers and location-independent individuals –also known as digital nomads– who enjoy the marvels of traveling the world at a low-cost while delivering their work digitally.
However, recent discussions on the implications of climate change and how carbon emissions are affecting the environment have prompted more initiatives focused on reducing carbon emissions. One of those initiatives involves decarbonizing the aviation industry.
There has been a significant improvement from the fuel consumed by jets in the 1960s to the present day. Jet aircraft today are over 80 percent more fuel-efficient per seat kilometer than the first jets in the 1960s, according to the Air Transport Action Group. In the same way, urban mobility has experienced an evolution toward vehicle electrification, we will soon start to see the transformation of the aviation industry into the development of large electric air vehicles that will be cruising the skies in just a few years’ time.
One of the most significant initiatives for electric air vehicles that has been initiated by a world-class higher education institution is the Cambridge Zero, which combines a full range of research and policy expertise in order to help create a zero-carbon future.
Cambridge Zero: An initiative from the University of Cambridge that brings electric air vehicles closer to the sky
The University of Cambridge in England, U.K. has launched an ambitious new environment and climate change initiative with the goal of scaling the process of turning ideas into new technologies in the aviation and power industries. This could result, for starters, in covering around 80 percent of the United Kingdom’s future aerodynamics technology needs.
Cambridge Zero is not just about developing greener technologies but combining the University’s top-class research and policy expertise in favor of developing actionable solutions that work for the citizens’ lives, society, and the biosphere as a whole.
Electrification: Electric air vehicles (EAVs) perhaps ready by 2024
Worldwide, flights produced 895 million tonnes of CO2 in 2018. Globally, humans produced over 42 billion tonnes of CO2. –ATAG
For small and medium-sized aircraft, electrification is a way to decarbonize. Currently, over 70 aviation companies are planning the first flight of electric air vehicles (EAVs) by 2024. Unfortunately, larger aircraft have to continue relying on the jet engine, for now. However, this is going to change in the coming years thanks to hybrid-electric engines that will come first. As the path to fully electric aircraft continue to evolve initiatives such as the Cambridge-MIT Silent Aircraft Initiative and the NASA N+3 Project are developing novel aircraft architectures with the potential of reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 70 percent.
According to the N+3 Technology Level Reference Propulsion System Project’s Abstract (PDF), an N+3 technology level engine, suitable as a propulsion system for an advanced single-aisle transport, was developed as a reference cycle for use in technology assessment and decision-making efforts. This reference engine serves three main purposes:
- It provides thermodynamic quantities at each major engine station
- It provides overall propulsion system performance data for vehicle designers to use in their analyses
- It can be used for comparison against other proposed N+3 technology-level propulsion systems on an equal basis
This reference cycle is meant to represent the expected capability of gas turbine engines in the N+3 timeframe given reasonable extrapolations of technology improvements and the ability to take full advantage of those improvements.
Meanwhile, at the Whittle Lab in Cambridge, the researchers are working on applications that include the development of electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, the generation of power from the tides and low-grade heat like solar energy, and hydrogen-based engines. According to Professor Rob Miller, Director of the Whittle Laboratory, world leading turbomachinery research lab at the University of Cambridge, the researchers are also working on existing technologies as a way of reducing the carbon emissions, like wind turbines, and developing the next generation of jet engines such as Rolls-Royce’s UltraFan engine, which will enable CO2 emission reductions of no less than 25 percent by 2025.
Professor Miller’s research is aimed at reducing the emissions of both air travel and land-based power production. He has worked extensively with industry; he is currently undertaking research in collaboration with Rolls Royce, Mitsubishi, Siemens, and Dyson.
Rolls-Royce UltraFan engine: The next generation of jet engines
The UltraFan is a new architecture of Rolls-Royce for civil engines. Phil Curnock, Chief Engineer, Civil Future Programs, Civil Aerospace Rolls-Royce explains how the progress and technologies at play within the UntraFan bring a new era of jet engines closer to reality. Curnock says the UltraFan is different from today’s engines because it incorporates the power gearbox into the gas turbine, which allows a larger diameter fan, more flow for the engine which makes the engine more efficient MORE
RELATED:
County Sustainability Group 