Volvo Aero’s expertise in designing and making lightweight engine parts is just one example of companies promoting green messages. The theme of its presentation this week is ‘Make it light’, referring to its efforts to help produce lighter engines resulting in lower fuel consumption and reduced emissions.
According to Robert Lundberg, Volvo’s marketing director, the Swedish company has a target to reduce the weight of its engine components by 20% by a combination of technologies it is developing. This would lead to a weight saving for an entire engine of 3% if all the possible Volvo parts were used.
These would add up to a huge emissions reduction. “If all the major OEMs chose our structures for every commercial engine, the accumulated saving across the world’s aircraft fleet would be 1.3 million tones of CO2 per year,” says Lundberg.
Although a hypothetical figure, it is nearly equivalent to the CO2 emitted in Sweden per year. “This is a good message for the politicians – by supporting technologies like these they can do so much more for the environment than increasing taxes,” says Lundberg. “We feel the solution is to go for more research and development.”
Volvo Aero is promoting its expertise in producing advanced engine components as it looks to gain a role on the next generation powerplants.
Source: Flight Daily News
