The idea of using different fuel options for aircraft has long been discussed. I’ve talked about the merits of hydrogen-powered aircraft in the past. This is a topic that has become increasingly important to the environmental debate, though, given the impact aviation has on our use of fuel resources. Therefore, the news that ZeroAvia is working towards using fuel cell powered aircraft is very exciting. The pivot to using hydrogen fuel cells to power an aircraft is ambitious, but it could be essential to the future of the entire industry.
A successful test flight has now been carried out, and the company has been given backing by the likes of United and Alaska Air. Therefore, the ability to finally come up with a solution to limit the aviation industries’ carbon footprint could be in clear development. Of course, caution is needed – this is on the back of a test flight, and such technology won’t just be appearing out of thin air.
This will still take time and other companies will have to get involved. ZeroAvia is one of the market leaders, though other firms are beginning to work in tandem to come up with a solution for an eventual net zero emissions industry.
This is, though, on the face of it, a hugely exciting development. The test flight took place in September 2020, so it was not exactly a recent test. However, now it has been seen as a leading success, others are getting involved in the discussion.
Given that aviation counts for as much as 3% of our global CO2 output, getting command and control of its output is essential. Indeed, it is expected that by 2050 this could have increased to as much as 20 to 30%. So, a solution like the one proposed by ZeroAvia is very important to our future.
An urgent, obvious requirement in the face of an emissions spike
As more and more industries take emissions seriously, aviation looks to be one of the last to really make an effort. However, ZeroAvia CEO Val Miftakhov has made clear that they are focused on creating a solution. Noting that battery-electric solutions are simply not viable due to the power needed, and other sustainability fuels are either too expensive or not scalable enough to aviation, hydrogen is the winner.
ZeroAvia opened its doors in 2017 and came with an industry-changing goal – to decarbonize the process of flying. Given how important flight is to connect us with the rest of the world, it really is an industry we cannot do without. That said, its emissions output makes flight a necessary but dangerous industry. By finding solutions like a hydrogen fuel cell powering source, though, these things could change.
Things are getting increasingly exciting as more and more developments come into the aviation industry. Improvements on efficiency are quite common, but ZeroAvia wants to move away from simply using fossil fuels more efficiently; they want to stop the use entirely, and pivot to tools like hydrogen.
Out of all of the companies involved in this race, they appear to be the furthest ahead.
Citation
https://www.inc.com/magazine/202205/peter-keating/zeroavia-hydrogen-fuel-united-alaska-air.html