Aviation is a major contributor to global climate change, with some estimating the commercial aviation industry producing anywhere between 1.9% to 3.5% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Military aviation, with more than twice the number of aircraft than commercial aviation, contributes as much as 15% of that total.
United Kingdom-based Rolls-Royce just took the first step toward reducing or eliminating aviation's enormous carbon footprint. In a partnership with the UK discount airline easyJet, it created a version of one of its most common aircraft engines — one that runs entirely on hydrogen.
In a statement, the company said the test took place Monday at the UK's Ministry of Defense aircraft testing site at Boscombe Down. The test engine, which was stripped of bodywork and fastened to a test rig, was powered by hydrogen created by a tidal test facility on Eday in the Orkney Islands.
Hydrogen created by renewable-powered electrolysis, the kind used in the Rolls-Royce test, can be extremely expensive, almost three times as much as the kerosene jet fuel normally used. There are other processes for creating hydrogen fuel that are cheaper, but those create carbon emissions of their own.
Research for more efficient renewable hydrogen creation is ongoing, but experts say hydrogen-powered aircraft won't become commonplace for decades to come.
With the successful test, Rolls-Royce intends to continue with another series of rig…
