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Aircraft will likely be electric by 2050, with biofuels used in the meantime
Air traffic is set to increase by seven fold by 2050 and greenhouse gas emissions by four-fold, unless radical changes are made to aircraft.
To combat the problem, aeroplane manufacturers and young engineers have designed conceptual planes of the future, which could be powered by electricity and biofuels.
Future aircraft could also have innovative wing designs and bodies inspired by nature as well as smarter and smaller computers on board.
The crucial next step towards ensuring the aircraft industry becomes greener is the full electrification of commercial aircraft, according to Ash Dove-Jay, a PhD researcher in aerospace engineering at The University of Bristol.
Such systems could mean zero carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, with energy sourced from ‘green’ power stations
The main technological barrier that must be overcome is the energy density of batteries - a measure of how much power can be generated from a battery of a certain weight, he wrote in The Conversation.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously said that once batteries are capable of producing 400 watt-hours per kilogram, with a ratio of power cell to overall mass of between 0.7 and 0.8, an electrical transcontinental aircraft becomes ‘compelling’.
Air traffic is set to increase by seven fold by 2050 and greenhouse gas emissions by four-fold, unless radical changes are made to aircraft.
To combat the problem, aeroplane manufacturers and young engineers have designed conceptual planes of the future, which could be powered by electricity and biofuels.
Future aircraft could also have innovative wing designs and bodies inspired by nature as well as smarter and smaller computers on board.
The crucial next step towards ensuring the aircraft industry becomes greener is the full electrification of commercial aircraft, according to Ash Dove-Jay, a PhD researcher in aerospace engineering at The University of Bristol.
Such systems could mean zero carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, with energy sourced from ‘green’ power stations
The main technological barrier that must be overcome is the energy density of batteries - a measure of how much power can be generated from a battery of a certain weight, he wrote in The Conversation.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously said that once batteries are capable of producing 400 watt-hours per kilogram, with a ratio of power cell to overall mass of between 0.7 and 0.8, an electrical transcontinental aircraft becomes ‘compelling’.