EU project leads to green airport development
The European Commission has funded a new software and sensor system to help reduce carbon emissions and energy costs by 20% in airports.
Pilot testing taking place in Rome’s Fiumicino and Milan’s Malpensa has shown the new system will save these Italian airports at least some 6,000 MWh, which equates to 42,000 tonnes of CO2 and €840,000 a year.
Partners in Germany, Italy, Ireland and Serbia working on the new system, called CASCADE, received €2.6m of EU funding under FP7. The Airports Council International Europe – representing over 450 airports on the continent – has committed its support to the project, meaning there should be increased use of the CASCADE system in other European airports by 2015.
Nicolas Réhault, CASCADE project co-ordinator at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany, said: “Sensors and meters are placed on the infrastructure and communicate information to a central database. Innovative software can detect faults, for example fans operating when they are not required, simultaneous heating and cooling, control errors and so on. It can then suggest corrective actions to the energy management and maintenance teams, like resetting controls or replacing faulty detectors.”
Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for the Digital Agenda, added: “The CASCADE system shows us that being sustainable doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and that actually it can save us money.”
It is hoped that the CASCADE system could be replicated in other building infrastructures, including hospitals and banks.
