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Fuel is getting ever more expensive. If we still want
to be able to fly in the future, we'll need new and more efficient
planes. Aviation pioneers are working on concepts on how the planes of
the future might look like.
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Green aviation
Aviation causes around 3 percent of CO2 emissions worldwide. For the EU
commission, this is too much: it's calling for a reduction by 25 percent
by 2050. Visionary new aviation projects could help realize this
ambitious goal. The plane pictured here, built by Bauhaus-Luftfahrt,
uses electricity to get off the ground. |
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Engines on ice
The plane can only fly with extremely powerful engines. They get cooled
down to minus 190 degrees Celsius and the cables and wires carrying the
electricity essentially have no electric resistance anymore. The
engineers still need to find a way to make the batteries lighter though. |
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Form follows function
It's the right shape and form that helps save fuel. This draft plane of
the German Aerospace Center blends cabin with wings to create a
"blended-wing body." This reduces resistance and the cabin itself
becomes part of the wings. |
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Propellers instead of jet engines
Open rotors are more efficient than modern jet engines. Research by the
German Aviation Center shows that with the new concept up to 20 percent
of fuel can be saved. The rotors can measure as much as five meters in
diameter. |
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Efficient but loud
Ideally, the open rotors would be built into the body on the back of the
plane. Such planes would be more efficient and only slightly slower than
today's passenger planes. A two-hour flight would take a mere 15 minutes
longer. The downside: The open rotors are very loud.
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Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency
Here's how a plane geared toward efficiency could look like: very long
wings, a slender body and powered by electricity. This plane, the
"Solar-Impulse" by aviation pioneers Bertrand Picard and Andre
Borschberg shows what can be done. But the plane is limited to a speed
of 70 kilometers per hour and can carry basically no cargo.
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Foldable wings
Long and thin wings are good for aerodynamics and can help save fuel.
The wings of this solar plane are only 5 meters shorter than that of a
jumbo jet. But many airports don't have gates that fit with such a wing
span. The solution: foldable wings.
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Back to the biplane
The "Boxwing" by Lufthansa has huge open propellers and extremely long
and thin wings like a glider. As the wings of biplanes are shaped like
an arrow, the plane is efficient and fast. The wings though remain short
enough for the plane to dock at normal airports.
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It's not all about efficiency
For those always in a hurry, there are other options. The "Spaceliner"
by the German Aviation Center is a suborbital, hypersonic winged
passenger plane with rocket engines. By 2050 it might be able to take
you from Europe to Australia in a mere 90 minutes.
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