BREAKTHROUGHS & DISCOVERIES
Early Indicators of Aviation Futures & Environmental Issues
EMISSIONS
(BusinessWeek.com, Feb 2012)
China banned airlines from taking part in a European Union carbon-emissions system designed to curb pollution, saying the program violates international rules.
The system contravenes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and international civil aviation regulations, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement cited yesterday by the official Xinhua news agency. Carriers were also barred from using the EU program as a reason for raising fares, it said. READ MORE...
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(Reuters.com, Feb 2012)
The European Union EU.L is willing to consider whether India's efforts to reduce carbon emissions could qualify for waivers under an EU law that charges airlines for polluting, the 27-nation bloc's climate chief said on Friday.
India, along with the United States, China and several other nations, has opposed the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme that stipulates all airlines using EU airports must pay a price for emitting planet-warming gases during a flight. READ MORE...
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Algae.Tec Forms Chinese JV, Raises Capital
(Biodeisel Magazine, Jan 2012)
Algae.Tec Ltd. announced this week it signed a binding memorandum of understanding for a 50/50 equity joint venture in China with Chinese company the Shandong Kerui Group Holding Ltd. The first project under the JV, according to Algae.Tec, will be the construction of a 250-module algae biofuels facility in China to be funded equally by both parties.
Algae.Tec Executive Chairman Roger Stroud said in a press release that the facility will be the first of its size and type in the world, being purely focused on algae for the production of transport fuels. READ MORE...
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Algae Biomass Organization Launches New 'All About Algae' Website to Educate, Inspire
(Biorefining Magazine, Feb 2012)
The Algal Biomass Organization launched
AllAboutAlgae.com, a new website designed to showcase the potential of algae-based products to provide sustainable and scalable sources of food, energy and fuel. The website, developed in concert with the National Biodiesel Board, provides information, videos and photos all about algae-derived products such as biodiesel, aviation fuel, biochemicals, animal feed and nutritional supplements.
AllAboutAlgae.com is the first site designed to showcase algae's potential for everyone-from those just learning about algae to seasoned algae enthusiasts and entrepreneurs looking for the latest information on the industry's progress toward meeting challenges in energy security, food production and sustainability.READ MORE...
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Sen. Maria Cantwell hopes a bill reauthorizing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration will bring a new jet fuel research center to the Tri-Cities.
"We don't know where it will be located," Cantwell, D-Wash., told the Herald after the Senate approved the $63.4 billion FAA bill 75-20 on Monday. "It's not for sure it is even going to our state."
Cantwell said she believes the center would be a good fit with the biofuels research being done by Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory -- and would be a boost for jobs in Central Washington. READ MORE...
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(Biofuels-News.com, Feb 2012)
Analysis company Bloomberg New Energy Finance have published forecasts suggesting that, if production efficiency continues to improve, the cost of some biofuels could be similar to that of conventional jet fuel by 2018.
However, the study also showed that airlines might end up using only a modest proportion of biofuels (2% or less) in their fuel mix in the next few years. READ MORE...
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INSTALLATIONS
The Intelligent Tech, Design Behind JetBlue's T5 Terminal
(Smartplanet.com, Jan 2012)
Is there a better way to build an airport terminal?
I'm not sure how I missed this lovely little feature by Popular Mechanics, but just before the New Year Adam Hadhazy wrote about how carrier JetBlue worked with global consultant Arup to optimize its new T5 terminal in New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport using software and a suite of other tricks.
"Optimize" for an airport, of course, means moving people through it as fast as possible - no flight delays, thank you very much, despite a 20 million passenger load.
How'd they do it? By constructing a digital version of the terminal, passengers and all, and simulating activity using software called MassMotion. (The forthcoming Fulton Street Transit Center and Second Avenue Subway in New York, Union Station in Toronto and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas have all had the same treatment.) The software lets them manipulate the three-dimensional space - widths of corridors, location of elements - to reduce congestion. READ MORE...
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Chattanooga Airport Now Powered by Solar Energy
(SmartPlanet.com, Feb 2012)
With so much energy going into making our air travel more eco-friendly, we don't often stop to think about how much energy airports themselves use.
So the Chattanooga Metropolitan Authority decided to try and make the Chattanooga Airport a little greener. They enlisted Atlanta-based Inman Solar to carry out the installation of a 4.5-acre solar farm to help power the airport. The project uses high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells and modules created by Suniva, an Atlanta-based solar company. The installation is the first phase of a 3-megawatt project to power airport operations. READ MORE...
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Tennessee Airport Earns LEED Platinum Award
(TimesFreePress.com, Feb 2012)
Chattanooga Airport's green credentials were cited by the FAA's top administrator Wednesday, saying it's out front in terms of environmentally friendly airports nationwide.
Michael Huerta, the Federal Aviation Administration's interim chief, said the airport is the first nationally to garner a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum award.
The airport at Lovell Field earned the highest LEED designation for its new general aviation terminal and solar farm. READ MORE...
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MATERIALS & MANUFACTURING (GeneralAviationNews.com, Feb 2012)
When the term "light" is applied to aircraft, it can give the impression that the machine is somehow delicate. This is SO not the case when it comes to CubCrafters Carbon Cub LSA.
CubCrafters describes the Carbon Cub SS as an aircraft designed "for the pilot who REALLY wants to push the limits of Light Sport."
As the name implies, the Carbon Cub is built from carbon fiber, which results in a strong and light airframe.
General Manager Randy Lervold describes the Carbon Cub as a reinvention of the Piper Super Cub, an aircraft known as the work-horse for backcountry flying. "Carbon fiber and computer-aided design resulted in an airplane that is 250 pounds lighter than a Super Cub with 50% fewer parts," he said. READ MORE...
- (SmartPlanet.com, Feb 2012)
Bend, but don't break - That's the key to many resilient materials, from Kevlar to the dizzying steel-and-glass structure of a skyscraper. Researchers at the University of California San Diego can now add one more to the list: flexible ceramics. Today's strong but flexible synthetic materials are indeed tough, but they have their limits. In pursuit of new solutions, UCSD's researchers took inspiration from Brazil's 300-lb. Arapaima fish, which has the distinction of being among the few species in the Animal Kingdom that can co-habitate with a pack of hungry piranhas. Researchers found that the Arapaima's scales hold the key to its success. Biomimetics professorMarc Meyers and colleagues examined how the Arapaima resists piranhas by building a machine that forcefully presses piranha teeth into Arapaima scales. After running the materials through their paces, they found that the Arapaima's scales allow partial penetration by piranha teeth, but crack them before they puncture the underlying muscle. READ MORE... -
ORGANIZATIONS & INSTITUTIONS Column: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Represent a New Era (JetWhine.com, Jan 2012) From aviation's infancy, the US military has been a leading source of aerial innovations and educator of those who put those winged aviation innovations to work. With the end of each conflict, pilots, technicians, and engineers used their training and experience in commercial endeavors. This cyclical birth of new aviation eras is tied to the end of America's conflicts. World War I gave life to commercial aviation. Barnstormers became air mail pilots who became airline pilots. The industry made a quantum leap after World War II, in both technology and personnel. This process is again at work, but this time the new technology is replacing the old. READ MORE... - Senate and House Committees Approve FAA Funding (GeneralAviationNews.com, Feb 2012) WASHINGTON, D.C. - Leaders in the Senate and House Tuesday reached agreement on long-term FAA legislation providing a four-year funding authorization, ending a series of 23 short-term extensions. Committees from both chambers met to vote whether or not to accept the report of the conference committee. Acceptance means the bill will be given to both houses to accept or reject. It is expected this will happen before the Feb. 17 deadline of the latest short-term extension. Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who chairs the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said "We are in the final stage of signing off on a conference report that I hope will go to the floor for House and Senate passage." He and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, commended the members of the committees and their staffs for long and demanding negotiations to reach agreement on issues that have kept the bill from passing since 2007. "The bipartisan, bicameral agreement," he said, "ensures long-term aviation safety and infrastructure funding for the next four years." READ MORE... - U.S. Air Force Adopts iPads Over Flight Bags (SmartPlanet.com, Feb 2012) In a bid to lower space requirements and decrease weight on aircrafts, the U.S. military plans to purchase iPads or equivalent tablets to replace traditional flight bags. New reports have revealed that the military will be following in the footsteps of several aircraft carrier companies and replacing heavy, cumbersome flight manuals with tablets such as the Apple iPad 2 model instead. American Airlines is an example of a carrier that has already adopted the practice; rolling out iPad tablets to all their pilots. The move has been touted as a means to increase safety and efficiency on a flight - allowing a pilot to quickly access the information they need rather than sort through a heavy manual in a time of emergency. READ MORE... -
SYSTEM INNOVATIONS (SmartPlanet.com, Jan 2012)
One of the biggest solar power plants in the world is located right outside Seville in Spain. The giant 330 feet tall power-generating tower is surrounded by more than 600 mirrors-each the size of half a tennis court.
Scientists at MIT and RWTH Achen University in Germany have developed a computer programthat discovered that the mirrors on this plant, and other plants, actually cast a shadow at each other that reduce the efficiency of the sunlight they collect. Led by MIT's Alexander Mitsos and Corey Noone, the team of researchers has found the design that can make concentrated solar power arrays more effective-by mimicking the shape of a sunflower. READ MORE...
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North Carolina's Semprius Inc. and its German backer Siemens said they have developed the world's most efficient solar panel.
The prototype converts 33.9 percent of the sunlight that hits it into electricity, according to separate press releases from the two companies. That's more than double the most efficient conventional photovoltaic (PV) module on the market, where performance tops out at 16 percent, Forbes magazine found late last year.
It beats the previous laboratory best of 32 percent, Semprius said, citing testing and certification from Spain's Instituto de Energia Solar at the Universidad Polit�cnica de Madrid. Semprius late last year announced a breakthrough in the 41 percent efficient solar cells it builds into its modules. Cells typically are more efficient than the overall module. READ MORE...
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(DetroitNews.com, Feb 2012)
Washington- A bill to speed the nation's switch from radar to an air traffic control system based on GPS technology, and to open U.S. skies to unmanned drone flights within four years, received final congressional approval Monday.
The bill passed the Senate 75-20, despite labor opposition to a deal cut between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House on rules governing union organizing elections at airlines and railroads. The House passed the bill last week, and it now goes to the president.
The bill authorizes $63.4 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration over four years, including about $11 billion toward the air traffic system and its modernization. It accelerates the modernization program by setting a deadline of June 2015 for the FAA to develop new arrival procedures at the nation's 35 busiest airports so planes can land using the more-precise GPS navigation.
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(Gizmag.com, Dec 2011)
A new invention out of Norway promises to keep the skies of theworld open. When a volcano in Iceland erupted in 2010, it spewed out invisible clouds of ash that spread across Europe - effectively shutting down all civilian and military air traffic, stranding millions of people and costing the world economy billions of dollars. Now, a new camera has been developed that will allow pilots to see and avoid volcanic dust clouds, making similar eruptions in the future much less disruptive.
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It sounds like something out of a Marvel Comic: an atomic research institute and a weapons manufacturer team up to create a new robot. But instead of fighting crime, this new semi-autonomous robot will be fighting birds. "They were originally commissioned by the military to prevent bird strikes at military airports," said Yi Jongmin, head of public relations at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The robotics lab at KAERI spearheaded the development -- officially dubbed "Airport Birdstrike Prevention System" -- in conjunction with weapons manufacturer LIG Nex1 (whose company website, by the way, is one of the most intense we've ever seen). READ MORE... - Siri Talks Airplanes (FlyingMag.com, Feb 2012) Do you ever look to the skies and wonder what airplanes are flying above you? If you have an iPhone 4S, you can simply ask Siri - the service that not only answers your questions, but actually talks back too. But apparently it's important to use proper language when you talk to Siri, just like when you communicate with air traffic controllers. Asking: "What flights are overhead?" will get the response "Sorry I can't help you with flights." But if you ask instead, "Ask Wolfram what flights are overhead," you'll get a list of overflying flights near your position. The data includes the registration number for general aviation flights or name of the operator and the flight number for commercial flights. There is also location data for each airplane such as, altitude, slant distance, cardinal or intercardinal direction and the angle above the horizon. READ MORE... -
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