Last week we brought you news of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the art aircraft designed to reduce the greenhouse emissions and provide more sustainable air travel. But there’s another green plane as well: Easyjet, the low cost short haul European airline, is coming out with it’s own fuel efficient airplane: The Ecojet.
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Instead of a standard jet airline with improved fuel efficiency, the Ecojet has two open rotor jet engines at the back of the airplane, which, according to Easyjet, improve the overall performance of the plane. The wings of the airplane are swept forward to reduce drag. And finally, just like the 787, the airplane’s body will be made with with lightweight carbon fiber materials to reduce the overall weight of the plane. Easyjet claims that the new model will reduce CO2 emissions by 50% and Nitrous Oxide by 75%, while cutting noise production by around 25%.
While we cannot stress it enough, the best way to reduce airplane emissions is by reducing unnecessary flying. However, whether we like it or not, flying has become a fact of life for a large number of people, and is sometimes unavoidable. Short-haul flights are becoming more and more common and their overall emissions can only rise. So it is great to hear that Easyjet is trying to offset the impacts of their business by rethinking the concept of current airplane design.
+Easyjet Ecojet
[...] Inhabitat reported that Easyjet, the low cost short haul European airline, is coming out with it’s own fuel efficient airplane: the easyJet ecoJet – I cannot imagine Australia’s bottom line obsessed airline Qantas even thinking about such move, let alone doing it. In fact, easyJet probably has become the first airline to outline environmental requirements that must be met by the next generation of short-haul super-clean aircraft, and in the process to unveil its own design of what such an aircraft could look like for operation by 2015. [...]
Interesting, I’d like to see it work out.
Coming out with a plane?
All they’ve done is cobbled together research and built a mock-up. They don’t even have strong enough ties with any one manufacturer to be able to claim that anyone is going along with this.
All it’s done so far is created an Advisory Council (6 years ago) with a ridiculous budget and basic bureaucratic tie-ups. Name a manufacturer interested in creating this, and you’ll get somewhere.
Meanwhile, Boeing announced today that they have a plan to reduce all aviation CO2 emissions to ZERO through a partnership with Air New Zealand and Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation by using algae to fuel aircraft. THAT is the true mark of fuel efficiency, and the honest news story here.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4132048a13.html
If the above story about algae as a fuel is true that’s excellent news – surely we could use it for cars too?
As for the above story, if this becomes a reality I agree it’s brilliant, although I agree with Sean – has this been fully researched, or is it just a nice and untested prototype? Will it ever be built? It sounds a little like greenwashing to me, although I’d be over the moon to see Easyjet prove me wrong.
From that algae site:
“Boeing’s Dave Daggett was reported this year as saying algae ponds totalling 34,000 square kilometres could produce enough fuel to reduce the net CO2 footprint for all of aviation to zero.”
that’s algae ponds almost the size of switzerland. feasible? i hope so, but think of the carbon footprint of that exercise alone
[...] travel is getting greener- first the EcoJet and Dreamliner lower-emissions aircrafts hit the scene, and now with a ground-breaking development [...]
It looks like something out the Thunderbirds…but if it works, so much the better.
I’d like to see someone build an ecologically-friendly, perhaps bio-fueled, supersonic commercial aircraft.
What the hell is ‘unnecessary flying’? Is it flying by those whose trips are unconnected with ‘saving the planet’? Is it flying by certain classes of people (business class swells) and not others (unwashed masses yearning to seek sun and fun on shores far?).
Three cheers for the easyJet ecoJet! And a dozen big fat boos for those who aim to divine whether someone’s trip of a lifetime constitutes ‘unnecessary flying.’
I just hope that for them to call this Ecojet they have also done some responsible things with regards to waste on flights. The amount of wrapping and throwaway things that are featured on every single flight is insane. The first airline that addresses that issue will get great respect from me. I would like to suggest that a plane can\’t really be an \”ecojet\” unless it looks at that side of its footprint as well. It\’s good to get a bit of a start though at least.