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Published online 14 May 2008 | 453, 264-265 (2008) | doi:10.1038/453264a
News
Flights of green fancy
Air travel shows no sign of losing its allure but its environmental impact is not going to go away. Katharine Sanderson looks at some of the ways that scientists and engineers hope to reduce the carbon wing-print of aircraft.
Materials
Replacing all the metal in aircraft with lightweight composite materials could reduce fuel consumption by 25%, says aeronautical engineer Ian Poll of Cranfield University, UK. The fuselage of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner plane, to be unveiled in 2009, is made entirely of plastic reinforced with carbon fibre.
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I'm one of the engineers working for Carter Aviation Technologies. We are also developing a technology that could aid in reducing the environmental impact of aviation. Aircraft utilizing our slowed rotor compound (SR/C) technology would use a rotor for efficient (low disk loading) vertical takeoffs and landings, and slow the rotor in flight for efficient high speed cruise. The aircraft would be much quieter in takeoffs and landings than high disk loading VTOL concepts (such as tilt rotors or vectored thrust jets), resulting in less noise pollution and being more neighbor friendly. True point to point transportation would reduce travel times, and thus emmissions, of the vehicles, in addition to greatly reducing and in some cases eliminating ground transportation associated with the flights. Private versions of these aircraft (up to 6 passengers) would fly at lower altitudes than regional jets, and thus would not have the associated problems with NOx emissions to the troposphere. For improved fuel efficiency on par with automobiles, the aircraft could cruise at around 200 to 300 mph, which although much slower than a jet, would still reduce total travel time by eliminating the drive to a busy hub airport. More information on our technology and concepts is available on our website: http://www.CarterCopters.com