The Airport and the Environment

 Hi All,


Airports are a necessity for the ease of travel that they provide for both commercial and business use, but as Uncle Ben once told us, with great power comes great responsibility. One of these responsibilities that airfields have to mitigate is that they can be a source of many gaseous and particulate matters that can have a negative effect on the air quality, climate and the ozone layer both locally and on a global level (Management of the environmental impact at airport operations, 2009). The gases and particles that are emitted from aircraft engines are the primary cause of these harmful effects during the different stages of the flight. Our focus of the ground level, where airports are involved, is that the aircraft emissions degrade the air quality, which may directly impact human and environmental health (Management of the environmental impact at airport operations 2009).



    Thankfully today, there are environmental limits and constraints which are implemented through legislation to regulate the amount of pollution that is produced through the constant use of the airports as transit hubs. An acknowledgement of this problem was through the creation of the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection or CAEP established in 1983. The first idea that they had was to come up with an emissions inventory that gives the total mass of emissions released into the environment from the airports (Management of the environmental impact at airport operations 2009). They began cataloging the major emission components that were released from the aircraft such as nitrous oxides, unburned hydrocarbons, and smoke. This led to global legislation being released to help combat this problem, even though it only contributed to 3% of the United States overall emissions (EPA 2021). Thus the Clean Air Act was established. I think that this was a good first step in solving the emissions issue. The next course of action to pursue might be to look into, like we have been with automobiles, alternative fuel sources for aircraft. 



References: 


Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). EPA. https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/epa-collaboration-international-air-pollution-standards. 

Visser, H. G., Hebly, S. J., & A., W. R. A. (2009). Management of the environmental impact at airport operations. Nova Science Publishers. 

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