Airbus boss warns of delay in decarbonising airline industry –…
Head of Airbus, Guillaume Faury, says there is a shortage of allegedly low carbon fuels, so-called “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF). He said this is slowing the uptake of SAF. He said he had concerns about the pace of investment in facilities to produce “green” hydrogen and SAF. “Green” hydrogen, produced from water using zero-carbon electricity, offers one possible solution, while SAF, made from plant or other wastes or using carbon from the air, can be used in existing gas turbine engines. The hope is that, although SAF burns to create CO2, there is less overall CO2 in the fuel lifecycle than using conventional jet kerosene. Airbus wants to fly zero-emissions hydrogen aircraft in commercial service by 2035 but Faury said this may be later, due to the lack of “green” hydrogen. With every other sector aiming to use genuinely low carbon, renewably generated electricity, is there enough to use on producing jet fuel, largely for discretionary leisure trips? Rolls Royce and EasyJet are also making efforts to test engines fuelled by hydrogen. So far it has been burned in a jet engine, on the ground, not on a plane in flight. SAF supplies are likely to remain relatively limited for years. .Tweet Airbus boss warns of delay in decarbonising airline industry Guillaume Faury expresses concern at pace of investment in facilities producing alternatives to fossil fuels By Jasper Jolly @jjpjolly (The Guardian) Wed 30 Nov 2022 The launch of commercial flights of aircraft designed to reduce aviation’s damaging impact on the climate could be delayed by a shortage of net zero fuels, the chief executive of Airbus has warned. Speaking at a briefing about the European manufacturer’s emissions-cutting plans on Wednesday, Guillaume Faury said he had concerns about the pace of investment in facilities to produce “green” hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Aviation is proving to be one of the hardest industries to decarbonise because battery technology is not yet advanced enough to power aeroplanes beyond relatively short journeys. Green hydrogen, produced from water using zero-carbon electricity, offers one possible solution, while SAF, made with plant sources or using carbon from the air, can be used in existing gas turbine engines without adding to the total carbon in the atmosphere. Airbus has said it aims to fly zero-emissions hydrogen aircraft in commercial service by 2035 but Faury said a lack of green production of the gas “could be a reason for delaying the launch of the programme”. He said: “Availability or lack of availability of clean hydrogen at the right quantity in the right place at the right price in the second half of the decade is a big concern for me. The infrastructure for producing and distributing green hydrogen is still in the early stages of development. But the clock is ticking for it to be in place to fuel commercial aviation by the 2030s, and probably many other sectors much earlier.” Several companies are trying to develop hydrogen technology. The British engineering company Rolls-Royce and the airline easyJet on Monday announced they had started the world’s first ground tests of an aircraft engine run on hydrogen combustion. Airbus is working with the US multinational GE and the French engine manufacturer Safran to mount a hydrogen combustion engine on an A380 superjumbo. Airbus’s biggest rival, Boeing
