The aviation industry represents approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas
emissions, however with significant growth expected over the coming decades
this proportion is expected to increase. Continued governmental and social
pressure to reduce global emissions is posing a challenging question to the
industry; how to improve environmental efficiency and reduce emissions with
increasing industry growth.
The environmental impact of aviation globally is discussed, examining the
significant emissions and protocols that exist and their relative impacts both
environmentally and economically. The viability of alternative biofuels is
discussed, determining the life cycle environmental impact of future
replacements to kerosene based jet fuel.
This thesis therefore aims to provide an understanding of the fundamentals of
aviation emissions but also most importantly provide possible solutions to assist
the industry in reducing its emissions ‘footprint’. An important factor in
determining efficiency improvements is to understand the impact of particular
stages of an aircraft life and the impact they have individually. This was
achieved using an established methodology called Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA), which is an efficient tool for the analytical consideration of the
environmental impact of manufacturing, operation and decommissioning.
The results of a comprehensive LCA study of an Airbus A320 are documented
considering all phases of the service life. The study draws useful conclusions,
indicating the significance of special materials such as carbon fibre reinforced
plastic (CFRP) on the total manufacturing emissions of the aircraft and
indicating its operational phase as the one contributing most in its
environmental performance breakdown.
The thesis also examines short-term efficiencies for emissions reduction in
commercial aviation, focussing on improvements in aircraft routing. The
initiation of the EU emissions trading system (ETS) within European aviation willincentivise airlines to reduce their annual CO2 emissions. An alternative routing
strategy is proposed for selected long haul routes, which introduces multiple
stages into the route utilising two aircraft and is shown to reduce total CO2
emissions by up to 13.7%. Combined with blended biofuel, this reduction was
estimated to increase to 16.6% with a reduction in ticket fares estimated to be
as high as $19 per passenger per flight.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CRANFIELD1/oai:dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk:1826/7358 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Howe, Stuart |
| Contributors | Kolios, Athanasios, Brennan, Feargal |
| Publisher | Cranfield University |
| Source Sets | CRANFIELD1 |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or dissertation, Masters, MSc by Research |
| Rights | © Cranfield University 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright owner. |
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