Transportation's Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions ...

Transportation’s Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Volume 2
Table 4.6 summarizes available evidence on the fuel savings and GHG reduction benefits
across all aviation operations strategies, along with the extent of current implementation
and the potential timeframe for future implementation.
Table 4.6 Aviation Operations Efficiency Improvements
Technology
4-80
Percent Reduction in
Fuel Use and
Combustion GHG a
Current
Implementation
New/extended runways 0-4% b Ongoing – 15 new
runways since 2000
Other airport infrastructure
and aircraft operations – gate
pushback, single-engine taxi,
GPU/APU use, etc.
Unknown;
probably < 1% c
Low-emissions GSE and GAV < 1% d A number of major U.S.
airports, mostly in
nonattainment areas
Combined NAS strategies 2.5-6% of all aircraft
combustion GHG *
a Does not account for contrail impacts or demand-side effects.
Potential Timeframe
of Future
Implementation
Multiyear planning and
implementation
horizon
Unknown Short- to medium-term
(0-15 years)
To date, FAA has
authorized more than
265 RNAV procedures
at 90 airports and more
than 145 RNP
procedures at 45
airports
Near-term – depending
upon fleet turnover or
accelerated
replacement
Increasing over 2012-
2018 period; potentially
widespread by 2019-
2025 (see “timing”)
b Assumes 4 percent JEC estimate of total fuel consumed due to delay as upper bound.
c Less than 1 percent would be less than 10 percent of all landing and takeoff operations emissions (which
include operations below 3,000 feet).
d Total contribution of these factors appears to be about 1.5 percent.
* the upper bound is consistent with FAA (1998), CANSO (2008) & EUROCONTROL/FAA (2009). The lower
bound reflects observations on interdependencies that may prevent full realization of benefit. The range is
supported by gate-to-gate efficiency observed in the ASPIRE flight test.
Costs
The net cost-effectiveness of aviation measures in terms of GHG reductions has not been
estimated. However, certain air traffic management strategies have been estimated to
produce net benefits because of the resulting fuel savings. RNAV procedures have been
estimated to produce $8 million in fuel savings annually on the West Coast high-altitude