Department of Engineering / News / Aviation's impact on the environment

Department of Engineering

Aviation's impact on the environment

Aviation's impact on the environment

Economic development, increasing global linkages, and continuously declining airfares have made air travel the sector of fastest growth amongst all transportation modes.

Although aviation has become significantly more fuel-efficient over the last 40 years, the associated decline in fuel use per passenger-kilometre flown has been offset by the strong growth in travel demand. As a result, emissions of pollutants such as NOX and particulates and of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and their precursors risk continuing to increase. In light of the expected further growth in demand, the declining potential of mainstream technologies for increasing fuel efficiency will lead to a further strong growth in emissions. These growth trends require careful analysis to determine the potential implication of various policy tools (economic measures, aircraft technology, air traffic operation) on the environment and air transport system.

A team of investigators have been awarded a significant Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant to research the issues above. The investigators are all members of the recently founded University of Cambridge Institute for Aviation and the Environment (IAE) and together cover a broad range of research within the University. They are all leading researchers in the fields of aircraft engineering, atmospheric science, urban air pollution, and transportation systems analysis. That combination of knowledge and skills offers a unique opportunity to understand a holistic picture of the air transportation system and the environment. Members of the IAE collaborate with leading universities, industry, and governments worldwide. The principal investigator is Dr. Andreas Schäfer, a Lecturer at the Department of Architecture. Co-investigators are: Rex Britter, Professor of Environmental Fluid Dynamics, Department of Engineering and Bill Dawes the Francis Mond Professor of Aeronautical Engineering, Department of Engineering. Peter Haynes, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. John A. Pyle, Professor in Atmospheric Science. Roderic Jones Professor of Atmospheric Science at the Department of Chemistry. The research will also benefit from the following collaborators; Dr. Jonathan Köhler a Senior Research Associate at the Department of Applied Economics and Dr. Helen Rogers a Research Associate at the Department of Chemistry and in charge of the IAE Research Liaison.

This grant compliments the large award received by the IAE from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) last year for Knowledge Transfer Activity.

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.  All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.