Design of airports to become smart and environment-friendlier?

The Horizon project aims to come up with alternative fuels and designing airports to supply buildings, vehicles and airplanes with e.g. solar power. However, only few airports are prepared for new fuels and energy sources. "Their infrastructure is designed exclusively for the fuels used today," sad Dr. Ulf Neuling, Director of the ALIGHT project at TU. "There is also a lack of suitable procedures for verifying and deducing sustainable fuels, as these are usually mixed with fossil fuels. This complicates the mass use and leads to a huge administrative effort."

For this reason, researchers at the TU Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics are attempting to improve the use of sustainable fuels in aviation. Particular emphasis is on the procurement, blending and fuelling of sustainable fuels as well as on quality control and safety measures. The researchers are also developing intelligent energy solutions for other airport operations including the in-house production of sustainable energy as well as its storage and electrification. Another part of the project aims to develop the airport of the future and backs the use of sustainable aviation fuels as well as electricity and hydrogen. Apart from the TU Hamburg, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the University of Parma, Copenhagen Airport (CPH) are among the other partners to the ALIGHT project as well as institutions and companies along the entire value chain. 

Meanwhile, TU is also researching how flight routes can reduce the impact on the climate as part of the EU-funded "Flying Air Traffic Management for the Benefit of Environment and Climate" (FlyATM4E). The project is developing a concept to identify climate-optimised aircraft routes i.e by detecting conditions and situations with great potential for limiting the impact on the climate at low or zero cost. The project will also provide recommendations on how best to implement these strategies in meteorological services.  

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