Alternate Fuel Vehicles

The transportation industry is one of the largest sources of emissions in the United States, accounting for 29% of all emissions. Air transportation contributes a certain portion of these emissions with its reliance on jet fuel. Aircraft emissions occur at different rates, depending on the phase of flight. Some phases constitute the shortest amount of operational time but still account for a significant amount of greenhouse gas and criteria air pollutant emissions. Additionally, some phases of flight are more difficult to decarbonize due to the current limitations in battery and hydrogen...

Challenges in forecasting fleet development and deployment are in part due to fuel price uncertainty. To address this issue, a recent study developed an aircraft-specific Leontief technology operating cost model (LM) to compare aircraft costs under fuel price uncertainty. This model considers individual aircraft types to be Leontief technologies, such that the key drivers of cost must be used in fixed quantities. While asserted in the literature that models in this form can more accurately predict operating costs, the Leontief specification precludes a precise examination of how aircraft...

To assist in aviation systems planning in the context of fuel price uncertainty and environmental regulation, we take a total logistics cost approach and evaluate three representative aircraft (narrow body, regional jet, and turboprop) for operating and passenger preference costs over a range of fuel prices. Homogenous fleets of each vehicle category are compared for operating and passenger costs over a range of fuel prices and route distances and the minimum cost fleet mix is determined. In general, as fuel prices increase, the turboprop offers a lower operating cost per seat over a wider...

Reducing fuel consumption is a major goal for the aviation community due to environmental concern and fuel price uncertainty. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently developing and implementing Air Traffic Management (ATM) technologies to ensure reliable operational performance that is robust to delays caused by congestion and weather. These technologies will reduce planned and unexpected airborne delays; as such they will reduce the airline practice of schedule padding, or contingency planning for excess fuel and time consumption on a give route, as well as airborne and...