GREEN ISSUES
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Oct 08. International unveils DuraStar Hybrid tractor. Canada’s CCJ reports that Navistar just unveiled another hybrid truck, the International DuraStar Hybrid tractor. The firm says the diesel-electric Class 7 truck aims at general hauliers and food and drink distribution and could deliver 20 to 25% fuel savings on standard urban work. “Hybrid trucks are the next step in providing expanded fuel-efficiency options for customers as they face the new realities of high diesel costs and tough economic conditions,” says Steve Guillaume, general manager of Navistar’s medium truck group. The new truck uses a parallel-type diesel-electric hybrid system from Eaton Corp. This has an electric motor/generator between the output of an automated clutch and input of the automated manual transmission.(Source: Transport News Brief)
14 Oct 08. As part of Airbus’ on-going, extensive research and development into future technology options, Airbus and Pratt & Whitney (P&W) have commenced a series of flight tests to evaluate the ‘PurePower’ PW1000G technology demonstrator engine which features P&W’s patented ‘Geared Turbofan’ (GTF) architecture. The tests are being performed at Airbus’ flight test facility using Airbus’ own A340 flight test aircraft and will run until the end of the year. Airbus is working with all major engine manufacturers and will conduct similar tests with them in the coming years. Moreover, through such tests, Airbus will obtain data to validate the fuel burn and CO2 emissions that could be achieved with each new engine technology. The dedicated company-owned A340-600 testbed aircraft based in Toulouse, which has been extensively used for various technology evaluations, is already equipped with a full set of flight test instrumentation, and since Airbus has full understanding of the aircraft’s aerodynamic performance, it can easily assess the benefits of new technologies when integrated into the airframe.
16 Oct 08. Boeing announced that its Global Mobility Systems and C-17 Globemaster III final assembly facility in Long Beach, Calif., has earned an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification, becoming the latest Boeing site to validate its environmental management system. Boeing is working to have all of its major manufacturing facilities certified to the ISO 14001 standard by the end of 2008. ISO 14001 is considered a global benchmark of an organization’s commitment to understand and continuously improve its environmental performance.
07 Oct 08. Today sees the start of the technical activities on the new technologies for the passengers transport aircraft of the future: the Green Regional Aircraft, a project led by Alenia Aeronautica, a Finmeccanica company. In Caserta, on the 7th and the 8th of October, representatives from the programme partners: industries, research centres – about 25 – attend an international meeting, organised by Alenia Aeronautica, on planning methodologies and procedures, times, deadlines and budget of the innovative project. The new eco-compatible regional aircraft could enter into service before 2020, while flight tests will begin in 2013. Six technological platforms are part of the largest and most ambitious European research programme ever financed within the aerospace field, the Clean Sky JTI (Joint Technology Initiative), and Alenia Aeronautica leads the regional ecological aircraft programme – the Green Regional Aircraft – with EADS CASA as co-leader. The Clean Sky JTI programme, launched in February 2008 in Brussels and included in the 7th Frame Programme of the European Union, will last 7 years and will have a total value of €1.6bn, while the Green Regional Aircraft has a value of €174m, equal to 11% of the whole research programme.