Airbus is launching a U.K.-based facility focused on hydrogen technologies, a move which represents the firm’s attempt to support the design of its next generation of aircraft. Zero Emission Development Centre in Filton, Bristol, had already begun working on the development of the tech.
One of the site’s main goals will center around work on what Airbus called a “cost-competitive cryogenic fuel system” that its ZEROe aircraft will need. In addition, the aircraft the company is delivering now has a certified capacity for 50% sustainable aviation fuel in their tanks.
Airbus said it wants to develop “zero-emission commercial aircraft” by the year 2035.
The environmental footprint of aviation is significant, with the World Wildlife Fund describing it as “one of the fastest-growing sources of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change.” The WWF also says air travel is “currently the most carbon intensive activity an individual can make.”
Source: CNBC
Image: AIRBUS 2020