MEDIA RELEASE

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is committed to enhancing aviation’s capacity and efficiency through the implementation of the NextGen Air Transportation System (NextGen). NextGen will also help the FAA reach its goal of reducing aviation’s environmental footprint and secure and diversify air transportation’s energy supply.

The Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise (CLEEN) program is our principal NextGen environmental effort that will develop and demonstrate new technologies, procedures and sustainable alternative jet fuels.

Under the program, the FAA awarded five-year agreements to Boeing, General Electric, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce. These companies will match or exceed the awards in this cost-sharing program. The total federal investment is expected to be $125 million, making the total expected value of efforts at least $250 million.

The CLEEN companies will participate in a government-industry consortium. The consortium will work to develop technologies that will reduce noise, emissions, and fuel burn to enable the aviation industry to expedite integration of these technologies into current and future aircraft.

Specifically, CLEEN’s goals include developing and demonstrating by 2015:

* Aircraft technology that reduces aircraft fuel burn by 33 percent relative to current subsonic aircraft technology, and which reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions;

* Engine technology that reduces landing and takeoff cycle (LTO) nitrogen oxide emissions by 60 percent, without increasing other gaseous or particle emissions, over the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard adopted in 2004;

* Certifiable aircraft technology that reduces noise levels by 32 dB cumulative, relative to the current Stage 4 noise standard; and

* The extent to which new engine and aircraft technologies may be used to retrofit or re-engine aircraft to decrease aviation’s environmental impact. Wide ranging sustainable aviation jet fuels, including quantification of benefits; and

* Safety and transition strategies that enable “drop in” replacement for petroleum-derived aviation fuels. Drop-in alternative fuels will require no significant modifications to aircraft and engines and with a goal of performing more efficiently, and cleaner than current fossil-based fuels.

The FAA will conduct independent assessments of CLEEN technologies using a modeling tool developed at Georgia Institute of Technology for the FAA.

— Find out more:
www.faa.gov