Green skies for aircraft
Clean Sky is the most ambitious aeronautical research programme ever launched in Europe. It sets lofty goals for reducing the environmental impact of aviation, and the EU-funded project ENDAMI (Environmental data models and interface development in aviation) was part of its EcoDesign Airframe (EDA) activities. The project has delivered an EDA LCA tool, ENDAMI, to support development of more sustainable new air travel concepts. The software provides decision-making support in an environmental context specific to the aviation sector, taking one more step forward toward the use of LCA for the industry. It is solidly founded on an up-to-date database, European Commission regulations, and the standard International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) format for easy integration with other LCA databases. Additionally, an aviation specific LCA Database was created. The tool considers the entire life cycle of products and systems, guiding development through comparison of aviation materials, technologies and processes. In fact, the voluminous data collected in regard to the latter has been added to what is now known as the Clean Sky Aviation Environmental Database. Scientists also developed an interface between the ENDAMI EcoDesign tool and the GaBi Envision software, a scenario modelling tool for sustainable design. Its databases are among the largest internally consistent LCA databases on the market today. The web-based ENDAMI EcoDesign tool now facilitates fast, easy and solidly founded LCA analyses of aviation-specific products, even for non-LCA experts. Its innovation and value were recognised as one of the most promising sustainability solutions in Europe in 2014. It is in the running for a Sustania100 award recognising the top 100 sustainability solutions annually across a number of fields. Sustainability is the future of air travel, and aviation-specific LCA tools developed within the scope of the ENDAMI project will ensure a focus on new concepts for decreased noise emissions and enhanced fuel efficiency. In addition, the easy-to-use interface will foster awareness and exploitation of LCA in aviation at all levels of the development process for maximum impact.
Keywords
Life-cycle assessment, EcoDesign, aviation, environmental data, interface development
