Climate change negotiations have kicked off again in Bonn this week, as representatives from across the globe continue in their constant efforts for an agreement on how the world should move forward in the battle against climate change. So whilst industry representatives are busy in Bonn, explaining their commitments to collective efforts in combating global warming and how exactly they plan to meet the united industry targets, aviation companies back at home have been giving a real live demonstration of the progress that is being made.

In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai Airports have launched their ‘silent airport’ scheme, a project aimed at reducing noise pollution both inside and outside the airport, lowering their environmental footprint as well improving the ambiance of the airport. To reduce emissions and cut down on noise outside the airport, Dubai Airports will begin a phased withdrawal of older generation aircraft that do not conform to international noise and emission standards set by ICAO. As the fleet of aircraft becomes newer and more efficient, fuel consumption will be cut significantly, resulting in reduced carbon emissions from the aircraft using the airport. Inside the airport, the scheme involves the elimination of unnecessary announcements, creating a quieter and more pleasant atmosphere for travellers!

Elsewhere, Heathrow Airport has completed the installation of Vokes Air pocket filters on air handling plant – a new air filtration arrangement developed by the Vokes-Air Group who has been working in partnership with Heathrow Airport to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The British Airports Authority is predicting that the new air filters could lead to savings of more than £1 million and reduce CO2 emissions at the airport by 6,000 tonnes per year.

And finally, as proof that the work taking place across the industry does not go unnoticed, Auckland Airport has been recognized this week by EarthCheck – the world’s leading sustainable travel and tourism certification organization, for its commitment to sustainable business practice. Auckland Airport was awarded Bronze Benchmarked status by The EarthCheck Programme, which measures key environmental indicators such as energy and water consumption, total waste production as well as community commitment.

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.

This week the aviation industry has had its focus on developing alternative energy both on the ground and in the air. East Midlands Airport announced plans to have four giant wind turbines built by the end of this year, which will be used to generate electricity for the airport. The turbines will generate 900 kilowatt hours of electricity – without any emissions to pollute the environment – which is enough to cover about 10% of the airport's energy needs. This project is part of a wider plan to make the airport's ground operations carbon neutral.

Airports in the US, in Texas, Dallas, Las Vegas and Houston, have the same goal of carbon neutrality, but are concentrating on a different initiative to take them there. Working together with Clean Energy Fuels, the airports have all set up major new airport compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling business. At these airports, Clean Energy will build a public access CNG fueling stations which will support the growing fleets of off-airport parking shuttle fleets, on-airport courtesy shuttle vehicles as well as taxis and private CNG fleet vehicles.

A new report has been published which outlines various case studies looking at the efforts that have been made over the past years by airports aimed at cutting emissions and improving efficiency… just so they know their efforts are not being ignored!

This week has also seen a major announcement from Qatar Airways, Qatar Science & Technology Park and Qatar Petroleum, with the support of Airbus. These companies are to jointly develop production of an alternative fuel for aircraft. Following a feasibility study into bio fuel seven months ago, the initiative now establishes the Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform to develop the fuel. Initially Qatar Airways will be a dedicated end-user, but there is a view to opening the production out to other airlines and companies. Yet whilst deals are being struck on the ground, it is not without movement in the air - this initiative comes just months after Qatar Airways completed the world's first commercial flight powered by a Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) fuel blend. And again, efforts are not unnoticed - even Qatar's deputy premier Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah has shown excitement over the “tremendous” prospects this work has shown!

And there’s one more… monthly magazine Air Transport World selected Air New Zealand as its Airline of the Year for 2010. As well as recognition for its commitment to safety and operational excellence, the airline was specifically praised for its environmental initiatives, including conducting the world's first sustainable biofuel flight. While they are not doing it for the praise of awards, it does go to show that being an environmental leader is recognised.

“You’re next holiday may be powered by weeds” wrote Dominic O’Connell in the Sunday Times this week and indeed he may be right... Last week we saw a passenger biofuel flight by KLM and the last in a series of ‘MINT’ flights; this week sees development through British Airways who have taken a big step into the world of biofuels by starting trials in conjunction with Rolls-Royce. The trails involve conducting largescale ground tests of a range of fuels made from plants and will take place as of next year. BA will buy up to 240 tonnes of four kinds of biofuels for its research. The data generated by the tests should help speed the certification of the fuels for commercial use, with regulatory approval expected towards the end of next year.

Latin American airliner, GOL, announced this week their plan to have all aircraft be equipped with sensors to enable the use of the GPS Landing System, as well as Vertical Situation Display, as of January 2010. GOL predicts the GPS Landing System will become the dominant global technology in the near future. This equipment permits continuous ascent or descent which reduces fuel consumption and the emission of environmentally harmful gases by up to 15% in these flight stages. Enhancing this is the Vertical Situation Display which allows pilots to accurately identify, from the cockpit, information on ground relief and obstacles therefore permitting more efficient landing planning, reducing landing component wear and tear and, consequently, future maintenance expenses.

Elsewhere, there has been a request to ‘Switch off!’ by Stansted airport as they launch their new energy awareness campaign. Rather than leaving appliances on standby, airport staff are encouraged to save power by switching off therefore saving power, reducing emissions and by transferring this practice to home as well, saving some money on energy bills! This initiative is a part of the airport’s Energy Management Plan to reduce CO2 emissions from airport buildings and infrastructure by 30% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. Other initiatives at Stansted include installation of a biomass boiler which has brought a 75% saving on gas consumption in the terminal building, use of movement sensors in office areas to turn lights off when areas aren't in use and a move to introduce low energy lighting across the airfield.

‘Research and Markets’ have provided us with some uplifting news this week, announcing the release of their new ‘Airports go green’ report. As we’ve noted in recent weeks, airports have made significant contributions in fighting climate change by adopting numerous strategies to limit their emissions. ‘Airports go green’ is dishing out some well-deserved praise to those airports that have acted to reduce their environmental impact, offering case studies and explaining the initiatives that have been taken. It is just this type of encouragement which will create the incentive for others to follow!

New cross-industry agreements are resulting in further improvements in the environmental performance of aircrafts. For example, the long-term supply agreement established this week between Honeywell and China Southern Airlines, which will see new Auxiliary Power Units installed in their Airbus A320’s and Boeing Next-Generation 737’s. This move is set to reduce fuel consumption by 5% per aircraft.
 
Looking forward, Airbus is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks on the new winglet programme for the Airbus A320 family… once it has decided which winglet design it will use! Airbus has already said it will go ahead with the programme which will reduce fuel burn by 2% - 4% depending on the design chosen. So now all that’s left is to make the final decision: an Aviation Partners blended winglet design, or an Airbus-own design interestingly called "sharklets"?

In the news this week airports have shown positive improvements as they make their own contributions to lowering carbon emissions.

Sky Harbor International Airport, Pheonix, has announced plans to lower their carbon footprint by converting airport-based vehicles to alternate fuels and building a $1.1 billion automated train that aims to take thousands of cars off the streets near Sky Harbor. Measures are also being taken by airlines operating at Sky Harbor to cut emissions on the ground by replacing diesel-powered ground-support vehicles with electric versions.

San Francisco International Airport has also been working hard, becoming the first in the nation to allow passengers to off-set their carbon emissions from flights. Climate Passport kiosks located in the airport determine how many pounds of CO2 a trip will produce and calculate accordingly how much an environmentally-friendly traveler should contribute in order to off-set their travel. Passengers are then able to purchase these certified carbon offsets.

In other news, the European Voice published an interesting piece on the aviation industry’s development of new fuels and innovative technology. The article talks of the vast improvement we have witnessed in biofuel development, as it has gone from being simply an “interesting concept” to being tested in flights in just 18 months. Also mentioned, is the new ‘silent’ aircraft, the Sax-40, an aircraft designed with wings that blend seamlessly into the body of the plane, reducing noise and carbon emissions.

The aviation industry, it seems, is well on the way to achieving its very ambitious targets!

Japan Airlines (JAL) announced that it will start serving wine in plastic rather than glass bottles in the economy class sections of some of its international flights in order to reduce flight loads and therefore carbon emissions. Wine connoisseurs,  who might regard this as somewhat sacrilegious, will have to ensure that they book themselves into first or business class where glass-bottled wine will still be served. JAL estimates that the airline be able to cut CO2 emissions by about 1,515 tons annually if the plastic bottles, that are around one-seventh the weight of glass bottles, are used on all of JAL's international flights.

Portland International Airport is also working to reduce their environmental impact and waste-haulage costs, by ensuring that passengers empty the water out of bottles at security check-points and then take the empty bottle through security with them. This was revealed at the Airports Going Green conference is currently underway in Chicago, looking at the various green initiatives being undertaken by airports across the United States. Passengers can then either refill it or dispose of it in a recycling bin. It might seem like a trivial point, but the airport has saved $30,000 in disposal costs over the last six months, not to mention the carbon emissions saved in processing less waste. A simple solution to issues brought about by security legislation.