EADS and new hybrid helicopter concept
Everyone everywhere is talking about going green these days it seems. Drive down any road and you will see more hybrid and electric cars lately. There are more solar panels and wind turbines being implemented all over the world. In Israel it is now the law for your home to be powered by solar power. Soon it will be that way everywhere. We are looking at technologies for storing CO2. We recycle in new and innovative ways. We are all trying to reduce our carbon footprint. There is even an airline now that is going carbon neutral.
You may be wondering what all of this has to do with helicopters. Well, a lot actually. Eads (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) is getting ready to show off a new hybrid concept helicopter at the 2010 ILA Berlin Airshow. This will be held at the Berlin-Schonefeld Airport. The concept helicopter is actually a diesel-electric hybrid. They will also be showing a new king of biofuel made from algae that has applications in the aviation field.
The new hybrid helicopter will be an immense improvement on emissions from rotorcraft aviation and is the first of its kind. The diesel-electric hybrid motor will be used on small helicopters at first.
As far as the algae fuel (or algal) goes, EADS is looking at this as the next source of jet fuel that will be sustainable. The algae can be produced massively inside a closed bioreactor while not affecting land and water usage for food products, thereby making it more eco-friendly as well as sustainable.
Just think of the applications implicated if they could take their diesel-electric hybrid and replace it with maybe an algal-electric hybrid! The skies would be greener much more quickly!
