8.3
Commercial Impact for Airline Industry
People have become increasingly aware of the global energy crisis. This growing trend in awareness has sparked some airline companies to compete very aggressively by using green standards. By taking up green standards companies can appeal to a broader range of customers, bringing in those that are environmentally conscious. Doing so they obtain a cleaner and more friendly image. The incentives for airlines to buy planes fitted with solar cells are thus not merely to increase their fuel economy. The commercial and operational gains airlines would stand to obtain are therefore very promising. With the positive attention such an aircraft would produce, airlines stand to obtain a larger market share. This can be very beneficial in a competitive environment such as the airline industry.
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Further Research and Development
Throughout the course of this project we have come across areas which need further research. Many of these areas involve intense R&D which is beyond the means of this project. We hope to assist in future development of this idea by highlighting some of these next hurdles. • Structural Research - Adhesives: Research into strong adhesives and an adhesive releasing agent. - Securing lightning strike: If further research would show that the safety is affected due to the added thickness, we propose that an adjustment of the underlying mesh could be a solution. • Power generation and conversion - Inverter: A study would need to be conducted to come up with the most efficient load management system. - Whether it is possible to adjust the power usage from the generators in a way such that it would reduce fuel consumption as well as allowing the solar cells to be used most efficiently.
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Conclusion
We have shown in this report that airlines stand to save 135,000 l of fuel annually per A380 with 10% solar panel efficiency. Thus each plane will be saving 44% of the fuel used to power the cabin. This annual saving translates into 315,000 kg of CO2 reduction or the equivalent of driving 51 cars for 1 16