Improving Emissions Modeling for Future Air Transport Systems

Speaker: Michael Weinold, Paul Scherrer Institut PSI, Switzerland

Aviation is presently responsible for 2-3% of global carbon emissions. The majority of these comes from long-distance routes, on which only liquid fuels are viable due to their high energy density. Therefore, more energy efficient aircraft powered by non-fossil fuels are currently under development.

In order to assess the economic, technical and environmental viability of these future aircraft-fuel-combinations, accurate life-cycle assessment models are required.
Presently, such models poorly capture the underlying physics of aircraft. In order to accurately prediction future emissions, models must consider physical limits in both aircraft efficiency and fuel production pathways. Michael Weinold, a doctoral student at ETH Zurich and Paul Scherrer Institute is working on such models to improve the accuracy and precision of life-cycle assessment forecasts of future air transport systems. He will present recent progress in dis-aggregating aircraft energy efficiency, limits for future efficiency and hybrid approaches to life-cycle assessment of non-fossil fuels.
 

Timings
1:30 - 2:30pm   Seminar
2:30 - 3:00pm   Informal conversations

The Energy IRC is pleased to be jointly hosting this seminar with the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (CEENRG) in the Department of Land Economy.  

This seminar is a part of a weekly series, hosted by CEENRG, with a focus in law, policy, economics and governance of climate change, environment and energy. The full programme of the Michaelmas 2024 CEENRG Seminar Series can be found here

All are welcome!