“Compare hydrogen with kerosene, it has three times the amount of energy,” explains Kavanagh. Initially, hydrogen will be used in gaseous form. The hydrogen-powered planes envisaged to be in the skies above Britain from 2025 are little more than a stepping stone. Those involved with Napkin say that their proposals will form the basis of the UK’s answer to decarbonising air travel, in the same way that similar government-commissioned reports provided the framework for the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030. But in the UK, as other sectors reduce their footprint and air travel continues to grow, the industry is on course to produce 39pc of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. “While other solutions were looked at initially, such as electric and hybrid propulsion, the consortium concluded that hydrogen technologies provide the path to zero-carbon emission flight for mainstream commercial services.”Īirlines have been blamed for their role in the climate crisis as activists such as Greta Thunberg campaigned against the industry through the Flygskam, or flight-shame, movement.īetween 2pc and 3pc of carbon emissions are generated by the global aviation industry. “Hydrogen aircraft represent a credible solution to reach zero carbon flight and are the natural complement to sustainable aviation fuels,” the blueprint says. The plans pour cold water on electric-powered aircraft playing a central role in “guilt-free flying” - this despite airlines such as easyJet previously identifying electric-powered as the answer to reducing the industry’s carbon footprint. These early flights will be operated by retrofitted planes carrying gaseous hydrogen in tanks beneath their wings.įrom 2035, a new fleet of aircraft designed specifically to run on hydrogen could fly the entire domestic schedule from regional airports such as London City, according to the blueprint, which will be unveiled at the UN’s Cop27 climate change conference in Egypt this week.Īnd by 2040, 90-seater hydrogen-powered jets are scheduled to be in service, meaning the entire UK domestic aviation market will be operated by zero-emissions planes. The Napkin blueprint, seen by The Telegraph, has been developed by a coalition of industry experts from the likes of Cranfield Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, GKN, and Heathrow airport, as well as academics from University College London and Southampton University.Īccording to Napkin, hydrogen flights carrying up to 19 passengers between the Scottish islands and the mainland could be a reality between 20. Kavanagh is among a group of British scientists involved in a government-backed initiative codenamed “Project Napkin”, which has plotted a course to providing Britain with net-zero flights. “The hydrogen was gone before the photographer turned up.” “The flames of the Hindenburg disaster were all about the canopy,” she adds. It’s just different,” says Jenny Kavanagh, chief strategy officer at Cranfield Aerospace Solutions. And hydrogen is no less or more dangerous. The television footage of the fireball, coupled with journalist Herbert Morrison’s commentary, helped cement hydrogen’s reputation as a dangerous fuel.īut this stigma baffles those that believe it is the answer to weaning air travel off fossil fuels. Shortly before 7.30pm on May 6, 1937, the Zeppelin airship burst into flames killing 36 people as it attempted to dock in New Jersey. The fallout from the Hindenburg disaster has cast a 85-year-old shadow over the aviation industry’s plans to use hydrogen fuels.
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