What the United States will do to make airports green
The US government is making € 20.4 million in funding available to airports to encourage electrification and the reduction of polluting emissions. Here are numbers, details and objectives
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Department of Transportation agency that oversees civil aviation, will announce $ 20.4 million government funding to U.S. airports to help electrification and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The American online newspaper Axios writes on the basis of official information obtained in advance.
THE NUMBERS OF FUNDING
An FAA spokesperson told Axios that the $ 20.4 million federal subsidies are part of the $ 300 million the agency will spend on electrification and emission reduction projects at airports. This is money which – in turn – is part of the largest funding program for these infrastructures for the year 2021.
WHAT THEY CONSIST OF
Even the most modern airports in the United States, Axios explains, use rather dated machinery when it comes to handling aircraft between flights or transporting people and luggage within the facility. For this reason, airports are responsible for large emissions of greenhouse gases and various air pollutants.
Funding from the FAA will go to the introduction of zero-emission vehicles (to replace gasoline or diesel shuttles, for example) and the electrification of those machinery powered by fossil fuels.
THE DETAILS
Specifically, $ 5.9 million will go to the purchase of zero-emission vehicles. Charlotte Douglas International Airport alone (over 50 million passengers handled in 2019) in North Carolina will receive 3.9 million for the purchase of five electric shuttles.
At John Wayne airport, in California, 1 million will go instead for an electric shuttle and a charging station.
The remaining $ 14.5 million in funding will go towards the decarbonisation of various equipment. For example, Pittsburgh International Airport will have 4.6 million available to buy and install eighteen air conditioners, which will help ensure that precise temperature levels are maintained inside planes when the fuel systems are turned off.
San Diego International Airport – one of the busiest in the world – will go to 3.9 million for the purchase of thirty-nine charging stations to power those machines that provide ground support to aircraft between flights.
Other airports – such as those of Fort Wayne or St. Louis Lambert – will instead receive funding to equip themselves with energy units to power the aircraft's electrical equipment from the ground.
WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM
The FAA has announced that in 2021 the administration of Joe Biden – which aims to net zero US emissions by 2050, including by promoting electric cars – has provided financing to fifty-six airports for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles. and for the launch of electrification initiatives.
The money comes from the American Rescue Plan (the recovery plan from the pandemic crisis, worth 1900 billion) and other programs that already exist.
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS ABOUT AIRPORTS
In a statement from the White House published in early August – dedicated to the agreement between the Democratic and Republican parties on investments in American infrastructure, one of the main points on Biden's agenda – we read that "the United States has built modern aviation , but our airports have lagged far behind [those of] our competitors. "
"No US airport," writes the White House, "is among the top 25 airports in the world." The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal then allocates $ 25 billion to airports "to address accumulated delays in repair and maintenance, reduce congestion and emissions […] and promote electrification and other low-carbon technologies."
The Biden administration draws a line between the optimization (including energy) of American airports and the economic power of the United States, because – he writes – “modern, resilient and sustainable infrastructures […] will support the competitiveness of the United States by removing the packages of the bottle and accelerating trade ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/elettrificazione-aeroporti-stati-uniti/ on Tue, 24 Aug 2021 13:46:19 +0000.