240 likes | 356 Views
A FRAMEWORK FOR CALCULATING THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF AIR TRANSPORT. Howard Cambridge, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, York, UK. Outline. Context Ecological Footprint Footprinting Air Transport Calculation Framework Application Potential. Boeing, 2002. Context.
E N D
A FRAMEWORK FOR CALCULATING THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF AIR TRANSPORT Howard Cambridge, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, York, UK
Outline • Context • Ecological Footprint • Footprinting Air Transport • Calculation Framework • Application Potential
Boeing, 2002 Context • Global Growth ? • Demand Drivers • Impacts • Climate Change • Resource Consumption and Waste • Levels and Responsibility
Ecological Footprint • Wackernagel and Rees (1996) • It is a tool to help measure and understand how much bio-productive capacity the earth has and how much of it we use. • Bio-Productive Land • Cropland and Grazing, Forestry, Fisheries, Energy, Built Land • Plus Land to Absorb Pollution • Activity Based • e.g. Tourism, Construction, Services,Transport
Ecological Footprint • 2 Different Methods • Component vs Compound Approach • Looks at Bio-productive Area requirements for different activities and sums them up.
Ecological Footprint • Whole Economic System • Resource Consumption • e.g. Fossil Fuels • Waste • e.g. CO2 Emissions • Impact – Ecological Footprint • Global Hectares (gha) per year
Ecological Footprint • Largest percentage of Global EF from burning of fossil fuels. • Followed by utilization of cropland & pasture land. Ecological Footprint of Nations, 2004. Redefining Progress
Ecological Footprint • Western Europe and North America highest EF per capita • Regional Inequalities • Fair-Earth Share • about 1.5 gha Ecological Footprint of Nations, 2004. Redefining Progress
Footprinting Air Transport • 3 Main Sectors • 5 Main Components • Sources: Airlines, Airports, Passengers • Data Gathering • Spreadsheet • Software
Components - Transport • Passenger Mode • Distance • Car Type • Engine Efficiency • Aircraft Type Fuel Consumption Distance Engine Efficiency • Other Transport – Baggage Trucks
Components - Water • Water required for cleaning, hygiene • Water on-board aircraft • Water use in Airport • Passenger consumption • Leakage/Recycled
Components - Energy • Air-side Operations • Runway lights • Radar • Stands • Baggage Handling • Land-side Operations • Check-in • Shopping • Walkways, escalators • Machinery • Entertainment • Service • Hotels
Components - Waste • Airport • Aircraft • Passengers • Processing • Recycling • Incineration • Land-fill
Components - Food • Airport • Aircraft • Production Location • Organic • Recycled
Components - Construction • Runways, Offices • Hangars, Terminals • Transport links • Type of Material • Source of Material • Size of Building
Calculation D= Direct Bio-productive land use N= Indirect (fossil fuel) land use i = component • Fuel use multiplied by energy conversion factors (co2 equivalents) • Higher global warming potential of aviation emissions. • Calculate Total (km/tonnes) for each component (i) • Transport, Water, Waste, Food, Construction
Calculation • Assign to Bio-Productive Area • e.g. how much cropland required to supply tonnage of food. • Multiply each area by equivalence factors • -in order to make comparisons between areas of different productivity i.e. comparing crop land to forest areas are 'normalized' by multiplying them by equivalence factors relating to their bio-productivity.
Calculation • EF for each Component • EFcomp= (EFarable+ EFpasture+ EFbuilt+ EFforests+ EFfisheries+ EFfossil/energy)comp • Total EF=Sum all Bio-Productive Areas • EFtotal = EFarable+ EFpasture+ EFbuilt+ EFforests+ EFfisheries+ EFfossil/energy • EF Expressed as: Global Hectares /Year Global Hectares /Passenger /Year
Application • Set Policies which reduce fuel consumption • - improve airline profit margins • environmental benefits • reach emission reduction targets • Assessment tool for future airport expansion • - assess total impact • model different scenarios • communication tool
Application • Waste Reduction Strategies • Weight Reduction • Freight Logistics • Fleet Adjustments • Passenger Modal Substitution • Renewable energy supply e.g APU • Electric/Hybrid vehicles • Air Traffic Management • Congestion
Conclusion • Air transport comprises many different activities carried out by different industries and consumers. • Air travel is forecast to increase annually for the next 50 years. • This means increasing resource consumption and more waste produced. This includes greenhouse gas emissions a significant factor in climate change. • Therefore, concerns about environmental issues and sustainable development need to be assessed and addressed.
Conclusion • The EF provides a method for the total impact of air transport to be assessed. • This type of assessment takes into account all activities not just the flight segment. • The EF can be used as a communication and aware -ness tool to inform passengers about the impact they make. It can leads to shifts to public transport for airport access. • The EF can be used by airports and airlines to identify operations where energy efficiency measures can be made and where resource consumption can be reduced.
Future Methodology Improvement www.globalfootprintnetwork.org PhD Research Topic