Sustainability and Environment

Flight of NLR pipistrel above Rotterdam
Sustainability and Environment

24 August 2021

Electric flight is taking off in the Netherlands

What do you need to consider when flights are electric? Royal NLR recently acquired a two-seater electrically powered research aircraft. Now it’s time to get some flying hours under our belt and gain more experience. The aircraft will make various flights throughout the Netherlands with stopovers at several airports. One thing this will produce is a first at Schiphol: the first time an electric plane lands there, recharges and sets off again for its next destination.

Delivering the European green deal
Sustainability and Environment

23 July 2021

Blog: Fit for 55!

Last Wednesday, the European Commission presented ‘Fit for 55%’, a package for the practical implementation of the EU’s Green Deal. In a previous blog post, I looked at a much-repeated misconception concerning kerosene tax. Now I wish to consider the question of to what extent the new package can boost the sustainability of the aviation industry.

Signing of the agreement establishing the ICAO
Airport Operations

15 July 2021

Blog: Kerosene tax: what exactly is the deal?

As part of the set of measures proposed by the European Commission to meet the 2030 CO2 reduction target – ‘Fit for 55%’ – the topic of kerosene tax is back on the political agenda. In this blog, I will try to clarify the laws and regulations on this matter and correct a common misunderstanding.

Blu sky Airplane and clouds
Sustainability and Environment

12 July 2021

Centralised information about aircraft noise

Aircraft noise leads to a lot of discussions in the Netherlands. To keep not only the general public but also politicians and policymakers properly and objectively informed, RIVM (the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment), NLR and To70 have bundled together relevant information about this topic and placed it on a new website, www.vliegtuiggeluid.nl. It covers topics such as measuring and calculating aircraft noise, what its effects on health are, and legislation and regulations.

Sustainability and Environment

06 April 2021

Sustainable alternatives to kerosene: the facts

Why are CO2 emissions from flying still rising although planes are becoming more economical? What would be a logical distance for flying battery-powered electric aircraft? What techniques are there for flying on hydrogen? The facts, plain and simple.

NLR Fibre Placement Machine
Construction and Manufacturing

31 March 2021

SUSTAINair is investing in circular aviation for the green transition

The SUSTAINair project is investigating and developing solutions for sustainably using raw materials and improving the performance of aircraft. This Horizon 2020 project, which recently got off the ground, is aiming at the same time to achieve circular aviation by drastically reducing the waste and material costs throughout the lifecycle of the aeroplane.

Take-off KLM vliegtuig vanaf Schiphol Airport
Sustainability and Environment

19 February 2021

Blog: Trust in aviation is about more than noise nuisance alone

The past year has been an exceptional period for aviation: the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has sharply reduced air travel world-wide. At Schiphol Airport, the number of flights has fallen by 54% in comparison with 2019. Little or no air traffic means less exposure to aircraft noise. This is a situation that is unheard of for local residents around Schiphol. It may be somewhat similar to the short-lived peace that descended when the Icelandic volcano eruption in 2010 grounded air traffic for days, or even further back, after the ‘9/11’ terrorist attacks in 2001. The difference, however, is that the present pandemic has been cutting air traffic for a year now, rather than for a few days or up to a week.

Royal NLR and TU Delft present vision for route to sustainable air transport.
Sustainability and Environment

16 February 2021

Royal NLR and TU Delft present vision for route to sustainable air transport

In the white paper published today NLR and Delft University of Technology present their joint vision on the most promising technologies for achieving a climate neutral air transport system by 2050. The European Green Deal states that Europe should be a climate neutral continent by then; a goal that comes with complicated challenges in terms of human behaviour, consumption, economics and technology. Aligned with this great challenge the white paper also presents a view to support setting up a dedicated national research and innovation programme for sustainable aviation.