GREEN ISSUES
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31 Mar 09. The world’s two biggest aircraft makers said Tuesday they were
pushing ahead with the development of planes that run on eco-friendly biofuels despite the economic downturn. Boeing Co. and Airbus say
they are not planing on making their own alternative fuels, but are working with ethanol and other biofuel producers to make planes ready for the new technologies in the coming decades. The sharp drop in oil prices since the start of the global recession has raised concern that the development of fuel-efficient jets may stall. The airline industry is also being squeezed by plummeting passenger numbers. “The economic downturn doesn’t lead to any change in our product strategy,” said
Christian Dumas, vice president for sustainable development at the Toulouse, France-based Airbus. He said the airline industry has to think long-term because an aircraft’s life span is typically 30 to 35 years
“We are not going to diminish our efforts in research and development,” Dumas told The Associated Press in Geneva, where he was taking part in a meeting on aviation and climate change. (Source: Yahoo!/AP)
27 Mar 09. Boeing’s Global Services & Support facility in Wichita has earned International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification, a global benchmark of an organization’s commitment to understand and continuously improve its environmental performance.
The Wichita site, which provides maintenance, modifications and upgrade support to the United States’ executive aircraft fleet, as well as B-52H sustainment services and 767 International Tanker modification support, received the certificate March 23 after an extensive audit. Boeing last year successfully expanded ISO 14001 certification to all of its major manufacturing facilities around the world, including sites in the United States, Australia and Canada. Independent auditors from Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an accredited certification body of quality, environmental and safety management systems, audited the Wichita site Feb. 17-19 to ensure an established environmental management system exists and that employees understand their roles in protecting the environment.
“Achieving ISO 14001 certification reinforces Boeing’s commitment to environmental excellence and the community where we do business,” said Wichita Site Leader Scott Strode. “This global standard bolsters our initiatives for reducing pollution and waste, increasing recycling rates and improving energy efficiency, which benefits Boeing and our entire community.” The site was recently recognized for its energy-conservation efforts with a Clean Air Award from the city of Wichita.
27 Mar 09. Raytheon Company has been awarded a 2009 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company was cited for its ongoing, successful enterprisewide management of strategies and programs to reduce energy consumption, improve energy efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions. This is the second consecutive year Raytheon has received the Sustained Excellence Award, the highest honor given to ENERGY STAR partners. Raytheon will receive its award at a ceremony March 31, 2009, in Washington, D.C. Raytheon was selected from more than 12,000 public and private sector ENERGY
STAR program participants for the Sustained Excellence Award. This is the fifth such award Raytheon has received from the EPA in the past nine years, which demonstrates the company’s persistent efforts. Raytheon saved an estimated $2m in 2008 and since 2002 has improved energy intensity by more than 30 percent. This six-year reduction in energy consumption equates to more than 232,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas
emissions avoided on a cumulative basis. In 2008, the company also successfully rolled out an internal Energy Citizens ca