Aviation
Commercial /
Europe
Sustainability?
Rolls Royce wants more environmentally friendly engines for aviation
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000
Kurush Pawar from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rafael Ramos
10/20/2021
Even with recent news of developments and technologies that enhance the sustainability of aviation, Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East has made a call to the industry community that policies to make aviation more and more sustainable take priority.
The sector is going through many difficulties to become more sustainable, since the available technologies are difficult and expensive to apply. However, aviation is responsible for a large part of greenhouse gas emissions (about 3%). Thus, the executive's appeal is more than justified.
Other airline industry leaders share the same concerns. Companies all over the world linked to IATA (International Air Transport Association) voted in favor of a proposal for zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, the sector suffers from a lack of technologies for this purpose. Before, the companies' goal was to reduce carbon emissions to half the volume registered in 2005.
However, the solutions no longer seem as far away as they once were. Electric aircraft are just beginning their development. Meanwhile, companies like Ryanair are betting on the use of SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), which is a solution that helps (a lot) to reduce carbon emissions, since the fuel is renewable and less polluting.
Anyway, SAF is about eight times more expensive than traditional fuel. In 2019, only 0.05% of the fuels used were SAF, The United Nations Organization, however, plans that 10% of the total fuel used or from SAF.
Warren East, however, wants to go further. "However, we will only create the focus and momentum needed to achieve that goal [decarbonization] if we call into question our collective ambition beyond the current goal of achieving 10% use of SAF by 2030."
Furthermore, according to Rolls-Royce itself, its Trent engines will be able to run only with SAF until the year 2023, following other companies, such as Airbus, which said that its planes will be able to fly only with SAF until 2030.
Elliene Jong/Unsplash
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Rafael Ramos
Aviation enthusiast from an early age, he had his first contacts with the area developing that good old habit of spending dozens of hours in front of the screens of Micrsoft Flight Simulator and other simulators. With a solid background in various technological areas, including engineering and chemistry, Rafael has rejoined aviation as editor and author of articles and materials on our portal, providing invaluable help to the dynamics and expansion of the website and the aeronautical community, bringing us the news and updates so indispensable for us to remain current in our area of operation.
   
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