This Wednesday, representatives from airports across the U.S. came together for a ‘Green Airports’ seminar, hosted by South Carolina’s  Department of Health and Environmental Control and launched under the Green Airports Initiative. The seminar educated airports on how they can become more environmentally friendly and reduce their operating costs through the promotion of alternative fuels, recycling initiatives and energy efficiency.

Dallas/Fort Worth International made a timely demonstration of how airports can make an impact in this way by moving up the rankings on the American EPA Top 20 Local Government list of large green power purchasers. The airport was recognised by the EPA for its commitment to protecting the environment by proactively choosing to switch away from traditional sources of electricity generation and support cleaner renewable energy alternatives. The airport currently purchases 60 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 20% of the airport’s electricity use, and resulting in significant savings both in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Alice Springs Airport in Australia has launched their own energy project, with works underway building a solar power station. The power station will deliver approximately 600 megawatt hours of electricity directly to the airport’s internal electricity grid, making up roughly 28% of the airport’s electricity demand and reducing the airport’s carbon emissions by around 470 ton of CO2 per year.

Elsewhere, South America’s TAM Airlines has been busy preparing for non-commercial demonstration flight later this year, marking the continent’s progress in biofuel development. The flight will take place on an Airbus A320 equipped with CFM56-5B engines and will run on a mixture of aviation biofuel produced using jatropha oil. According to research from Michigan Technological University, a flight of this kind can achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of between 65 and 80% compared to petroleum-derived jet fuel.