Airbus has unveiled three hydrogen-fuelled plane designs that it is planning to bring to commercial operation by 2035. If successful, the ‘ZEROe’ concepts will be the first zero-emissions aircraft to come to the aviation market.
Hydrogen is a clean fuel because when it is burned, the only emission is water vapour – meaning that the substance could be key to reducing and even eliminating transport emissions worldwide, across aviation, roads and trains. The big hurdle, however, is cost, because existing infrastructure will have to be upgraded. With aviation, for example, both airports and airliners would need to switch to hydrogen equipment and systems, and therefore Airbus is seeking government backing for its plans.
The cleanest way to produce hydrogen is to separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water using an electrolyser that is powered by renewable energy. Aviation is currently responsible for 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions because kerosene is a highly polluting combustible fuel, and it is derived from fossil sources, so a wholescale switch to cleanly made hydrogen would have a major climate impact.
Airbus’s designs comprise the ZEROe 1, 2 and 3, which would have modified gas-turbine combustion engines running on hydrogen, stored as a liquid. They would have a range of between 1,000 (shorthaul) and 2,000 (longhaul) nautical miles.
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Airbus has unveiled three hydrogen-fuelled plane designs that it is planning to bring to commercial operation by 2035. If successful, the ‘ZEROe’ concepts will be the first zero-emissions aircraft to come to the aviation market.
Hydrogen is a clean fuel because when it is burned, the only emission is water vapour – meaning that the substance could be key to reducing and even eliminating transport emissions worldwide, across aviation, roads and trains. The big hurdle, however, is cost, because existing infrastructure will have to be upgraded. With aviation, for example, both airports and airliners would need to switch to hydrogen equipment and systems, and therefore Airbus is seeking government backing for its plans.
The cleanest way to produce hydrogen is to separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water using an electrolyser that is powered by renewable energy. Aviation is currently responsible for 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions because kerosene is a highly polluting combustible fuel, and it is derived from fossil sources, so a wholescale switch to cleanly made hydrogen would have a major climate impact.
Airbus’s designs comprise the ZEROe 1, 2 and 3, which would have modified gas-turbine combustion engines running on hydrogen, stored as a liquid. They would have a range of between 1,000 (shorthaul) and 2,000 (longhaul) nautical miles.