22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-3.8.2

SUSTAINABLE AVIATION

J. J. Lee
Environmental Strategy Team, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby, UK

Keywords: life cycle analysis, design for environment, sustainable aviation

Sustainable development is now a wellrecognised term, and one that impacts on all sectors of society and industry. For aviation, the difficulty arises in determining exactly what constitutes sustainable aviation, and how it can be achieved. Sustainable development encompasses three issues; economic growth, ecological responsibility and social progress. Of these, economic growth is well understood, and the need to comply with environmental regulations is easily recognised. Ecological responsibility however, does not end with compliance, and a fuller understanding of this issue and its relevance to aviation is needed. Additionally, social progress is even less well understood and its connection to the aviation industry is still unclear. A number of tools have been developed to promote the evolution of an environmentally responsible industry, but the most common of these is life cycle analysis (LCA). LCA is most normally used to provide an ' environmental picture' of the impact on the surrounding ecosystems resulting from a product or process. Eco-design (sometimes known as design for environment) is the process or system of design which minimises the overall impact on the environment. LCA, used in partnership with eco-design creates a solid basis for determining the least damaging environmental options for the design, manufacture, use and final disposal of aircraft. Aviation is a unique industry in that it poses an unusual combination of constraints on design and manufacturing options. The most critical of these is safety - if an engine is not safe, it will not fly. Others include for example, the time lapse between a new design concept and finished saleable product, the length of product life, and where and how the product is used. All these issues combine to form an interesting challenge for the aviation industry. This paper focuses on the application of life cycle analysis and eco-design to aircraft engines, and aims to show how these concepts can be utilised to reduce environmental impact. In addition, it suggests a program that could be implemented to develop a sustainable aviation industry.

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