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Forum » Global Flight Deck Forums » Aviation and the Environment

Recent Horizon fuel cell powered flight hits new world record !

Author	Message
Written on: 18. 08. 08 [23:16]
coffeeplease Board FO Moderator Topic creator registered since: 31.10.2007 Posts: 71	From the Horizon Fuel Cell website: Globally, aviation accounts for approximately 4 to 9 % of the climate change impact of human activity, and it is also the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. One technology that offers the possibility of reducing the environmental impact of the aviation industry is emerging fuel cell technology. Fuel cells are quiet and clean electrical power sources and have low thermal signature. Such devices can be used for primary or auxiliary power generation in centralized or distributed electrical configurations. Starting small, Horizon identified the nearest term commercial opportunity for its fuel cell systems to reside in small unmanned aircraft currently using electrical propulsion systems, where a performance advantage exists already today. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) also happen to be the fastest growing segment of the aerospace industry today, a market estimated by the Teal Group to be worth $54 billion over the next 10 years. Our1st demonstration flight took place in August 2006 east of Los Angeles, where NASA and US Air Force sponsored Multidisciplinary Flight Dynamics Lab at Calstate L.A flew a first Horizon-powered hydrogen fuel cell plane, as a first step into this pioneering field. This first successful flight has led to some of today¡¯s record-breaking attempts in the US with new specially-designed frame designs More details can be found here: http://www.horizonfuelcell.com/aerospace.htm An interesting approach indeed. But Fuel Cells in aircraft will have a long way to go! And while it solves the problem of dependancy on oil, it does not (yet) solve the problem of aviation related emissions. The huge amount of hydrogen required by an aircraft (or a car) needs a lot of electrical power to be produced. And it is wishful thinking to believe that all this power comes from renewable sources.
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Written on: 28. 08. 08 [23:07]
johnnyboy Board SO registered since: 16.11.2007 Posts: 8	Lets face it, the aviation industry is in a dead end! Fuel prices will go up for years to come and its likely that very high fuel prices will be accepted before a switch to another technology is considered. In other areas humanity is more lucky. On the ground we have a lot more choices on how to move about.
johnnyboy Board SO registered since: 16.11.2007 Posts: 8	Profile

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