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Las Vegas airport to save about $5.4 million
in annual utility costs
Environmental Leader
McCarran International Airport says energy efficiency is a priority as rate hikes approved by the Public Utilities Commissions have meant higher prices for commercial customers, reports Las Vegas Sun. As a result, the airport is tackling the Clark County Aviation Department's electrical utility budget, which is $16.7 million systemwide in the 2009-10 fiscal year. The airport plans to spend $26.9 million to make the building more energy efficient, which is projected to deliver a utility cost reduction of $5.4 million. Aviation Director Randall Walker told the newspaper at today's rates, payback will be in five years. More
Jet fuel from plants
Technology Review
Researchers at a startup in Colorado have turned plant scraps into jet fuel, an important demonstration that high-energy fuels can be made efficiently from renewable and abundant biomass. The company, Gevo, has engineered a yeast that helps transform the cellulose found in wood chips and plant stalks into butanol, an ingredient of gasoline. The researchers can then modify the butanol into jet fuel.More
Hanimaadhoo Maldivian Airport has a curvaceous clamshell roof
Inhabitat
Architects and Narud Stokke Wiig Architects have designed this curvaceous new airport for the Maldives. Fitting in perfectly with the breathtaking natural beauty that the islands are known for, Hanimaadhoo Airport sits in a lagoon, leaving the white coastline unspoiled. The design also features roof-mounted solar panels and utilizes several passive design techniques. One of Haptic an NSW's primary goals for the airport was to maintain the untouched character of the coastline. They achieved this by locating the terminal right in the lagoon and putting the runway and taxiway on the far north and east of the island, freeing up land so that the structure can be contained well inside the existing beach and vegetation line.More
Aircraft engineers turn to biomimicry for greener designs
Flight International via Flightglobal
Birds do it. Bees do it. And now, increasingly, aircraft engineers are falling in love with the idea of studying the natural world to find solutions that can be adapted and applied to the design of more fuel-efficient airliners. The science of biomimicry is taken seriously by aircraft manufacturers, and there is the potential for some quite mind-boggling tricks of nature to be emulated and used in aviation to reduce drag and better enable aircraft to adapt to changing conditions during flight. More
Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport looks to address wildlife issues with grant
The Marietta Times
The Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport opened two bid packages for a wildlife hazard assessment. "We actually had two organizations qualify, but one is a government office, which makes it a little different as to how we will choose the winner," said airport manager Terry Moore. Loomacres Wildlife Management is the only commercial bidder that bid to do avian surveys and large and small mammal sweeps and use night vision and infrared technology to spot animals and insects on airport property.More
FAA puts pond plan on hold in Green Bay, Wis., suburb
The Green Bay Press Gazette
A plan to construct up to 28 water-detention ponds to meet storm-water requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on hold as the village struggles to meet a Federal Aviation Administration directive that recommends wet ponds be set back 10,000 feet from airports. That's an issue for Ashwaubenon because two-thirds of the village lies within 10,000 feet of the Austin Straubel International Airport.More
Cape Air unveils green initiatives for its ops center in Massachusetts
The Boston Globe
Cape Air, a regional airline in Hyannis, Mass., said it has just put in place energy measures that aim to make its operations center in Hyannis a net-zero electricity user on an annual basis. "The building's improvements combine intensive energy efficiency measures with the largest solar photovoltaic system on the Cape and Islands," Cape Air said in a press release.More
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