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A new way to power the world’s aircraft?
By Jeremy Netherton
London Standard Review
1/7 April 2006 Edition
A cool spring breeze wafts through the partially open window of the small City College of London office of Professor Nathan Addley. Cramped and cluttered as befits the trademark of any serious academic and researcher, the office is ringed by white boards with notes and scribblings in various colours depicting recondite chemical compositions and structures. Adding to the aura of this mid-fortyish earnest man of science are his small, roundish glasses – evincing Harry Potter 30+ years hence.
Instead of Quidage and Hogwarts however, Nathan Addley’s realm is hydrocarbons – strings of them – for he is an expert in all things petroleum. As an impassioned advocate for reason when it comes to the energy debate, he immediately dispels the notion of a magic bullet regarding an answer to Western industrial energy needs. “Look,†he says as he leans slightly forward to add emphasis. “Per unit of energy gained for cost invested, oil is still the most cost effective manner in which to power the economies of the world. There is a reason that we burn oil and it is simply because until now we have not been able to develop or discover anything that remotely equals it for the price.†Professor Addley politely tolerates my indulgent question concerning such “breakthrough†technologies as using hydrogen to power automobiles. “Great!†He exclaims. “Producing hydrogen can be done by the students of an introductory chemistry course. What is used though to produce this miracle? Electricity. Electricity that has already been generated - often far afield by a nuclear generation plant or a coal fired burner.†Those with hearts aflutter over the idea that hydrogen is an immediate solution are setting themselves up for grave disappointment he opines, noting with an impish grin that the building of nuclear plants for electricity generation has not equaled exactly mirrored the growth rate of mobile phones.
Yet clever planners in industrialized nations are looking for alternatives – no matter how small and seemingly insignificant each one appears – along the lines that each individual component can serve as a minor, but contributory, tool in a larger toolbox. Wind, nuclear, hybrid autos, all offer the potential to play this role in slaking the needs for what has become a most serious statecraft problem of protecting oil supplies. “Let’s look though at where the energy is being used the most†Professor Addley offers as a thought experiment. “I know it is seductive to imagine that autos alone are using the bulk of oil supplies but this would be misleading. A factory that crafts stainless steel bicycles is using far more oil that the workers did in driving their autos to work every day. The real center of usage lies in manufacturing, maritime transport, home heating, and to a somewhat lesser degree air transport.†Almost bewildered, he muses why the public has never embraced the concept of productivity per unit of energy as opposed to the raw amount of coal, oil, or atoms used. “Simple arithmetic dictates that a bus or lorry with 10 persons on board can be more efficient a mode of transport than 10 separate autos even though the bus itself may get terrible gas mileage.
All this discussion of energy production and consumption leads directly though to some new work that Professor Addley is doing with the leaders of one of the world’s premier air transport confederations and American and European financing houses. The novelty of his efforts lies in revisiting of an oft bandied about concept that will require leaps in science as well as money with which to fund the research.
Using organic material, specifically plants and waste, as a serious energy source has often been dismissed by any serious researcher for the same reasons that the wonders of hydrogen have – namely the amount of energy needed to distill the stalks and plants into a usable to form of alcohol- in other words a distillery. Additionally, large scale utilization of gases other than natural is also an elusive target as capturing the gas and bringing it to bottle has been an often rather expensive undertaking. Yet Addley and his group are hard at work trying to use different chemical accelerants, bonders, and splitters to try to marry organic and waste materials with petroleum distillates in an admixture that would yield a fuel that would be much more stable, temperature resistant, and more energy dense. Groundbreaking, to say the least, for as Professor Addley wryly remarks, the effluvium pipe of central London is certainly not what one imagines in powering a British Airways 747.
Surprisingly however, it has been this very industry that has expressed the greatest interest in the research. Long hampered by its inability to pass its costs along to the consumer and historically hamstrung by any upward spike in fuel prices, airline executives and engine manufacturers are eager to search for something new and better that they could pour into their fuel tanks….. and what better than with the, shall we politely say, remains of yesterdays lunch?
But such ambitious plans are fraught with uncertainty and the money to pursue such research has been scarce given the rather ragged track record of such proposals. Again, pouring great amounts of energy into a process in an effort to yield energy is very often merely an Escher-like exercise in futility. But here is where airline executives have stepped in to foster the work that may very well transform the “odiferous remains of the day†into a jumbo-jet taking to the wing.
By their own admission, embodying talents, skills, and visions unreachable by lesser mortals, a certain group of special airline leaders have promised to move the industry forward with a revolutionary “Waste to Wing†(W2W) project that may require as much as ₤1 billion for startup and initial trial production. These leaders are the executives of the airlines grouped under the banner of the Star Alliance headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany and they have made it their cause to tackle this difficult, if not gaseous, problem. Star Alliance officials are, by their own admission even more talented, skilled and visionary than their peers in competing air alliances, are they are exuding a confidence that they have crafted a method to secure the required funding. This of course, is where Old and New world financiers are stepping in to assist.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa German Airlines made recent hints at a symposium in Stuttgart that the spadework was being done by Star executives to use employee pay and savings to jumpstart research and production. Mayrhuber, an engineer by training, has spoken often and passionately about the beauty of businesses that have literally been started in a garage and blossomed into commercial powerhouses. If the garage was unheated, as he states, it only lends more credence to the Ur creation narrative and he cites Apple Computer and Body Shop as being just two of this elite crowd that were sprung from such humble origins. Why not, he asks, would employees not wish to be part of an undertaking with such potential – particularly as it was being led from within the rare atmosphere of the markedly talented, skilled, and visionary leaders in the Star Alliance executive chambers?
Reportedly, Star Alliance officials are working behind the scenes with the financial houses to ask workers of the major Star partners to relinquish up to 20% of their wages and benefits on a ‘temporary basis,’ as Mayrhuber nimbly points out, for the project. Here the executives are playing a very strong suite, for they know that airline employees the world over readily subsidize much of the infrastructure and costs of the air industry. Whether out of pure altruism or a simple and almost religious self-abnegation and disregard for monetary gain whilst on this earth, employees have long eschewed receiving adequate compensation in order that they may provide inexpensive tickets and deserving executive compensation packages. The architects of this plan also know that in such arrangements money borrowed in this manner would need not be paid back if the project were to falter; taking employee money carries almost no risk for the alliance. Conversely, if the project were to wildly succeed, the payouts back to the employees could be kept to a minimum, for according to the long-standing gentleman’s agreement in the industry, the first rewards would need to go to the executives who graced the enterprise with the talent, skill, and vision to make a go of it. “Yes, the monies would perhaps present a risk for the employees at the start,†Mayrhuber maintains, “but in the end the employees should get back their principle with interest and a “pat on the back and well done lad reward.†“The most important point†he goes further in stating, “is that each and every worker will know that he or she contributed to the future.†“In this light 20% of wages is of little consequence†Mayrhuber opines. “What is money in comparison to what the American president T. Roosevelt said about being in the arena?†“I already know that workers in this industry are not motivated by monetary gain, but rather the wish to be part of a greater team and in this light the glean of the coin quickly loses its luster.â€
Although it is whispered that some incredulity has met Star officials as they loft this trial balloon, Alfonse Giaciro, head of external investments at Guillemot, Broche, and Ryes thinks that more than one of the major financial houses will pounce on the idea of working out the details for the Star Alliance. “What better than a three way win†he muses. “Science and research will win because of the influx of funds and visibility of the effort. The leaders of the Star Alliance will win because it solidifies their position as men and women of exquisite and indispensable talent, skill, and vision. The workers will win because although they will be taking the greatest financial risk, they may rest assured that they were led into the future by captains of industry embodying these aforementioned attributes of talent, skill, and vision - what priceless and cherished memory to pass to their grandchildren!â€
Such wistful dreaming however, is not the stuff of sterner science in the office of Professor Addley. He has much more practical work to do - for a full and noisome effluvium pipe does not yet a flying 747 make. It is going to take employee sacrifice, shrewd financing, rare talent, skill, and vision from the executive suite, and from what it sounds like, an awful amount of eating.
By Jeremy Netherton
London Standard Review
1/7 April 2006 Edition
A cool spring breeze wafts through the partially open window of the small City College of London office of Professor Nathan Addley. Cramped and cluttered as befits the trademark of any serious academic and researcher, the office is ringed by white boards with notes and scribblings in various colours depicting recondite chemical compositions and structures. Adding to the aura of this mid-fortyish earnest man of science are his small, roundish glasses – evincing Harry Potter 30+ years hence.
Instead of Quidage and Hogwarts however, Nathan Addley’s realm is hydrocarbons – strings of them – for he is an expert in all things petroleum. As an impassioned advocate for reason when it comes to the energy debate, he immediately dispels the notion of a magic bullet regarding an answer to Western industrial energy needs. “Look,†he says as he leans slightly forward to add emphasis. “Per unit of energy gained for cost invested, oil is still the most cost effective manner in which to power the economies of the world. There is a reason that we burn oil and it is simply because until now we have not been able to develop or discover anything that remotely equals it for the price.†Professor Addley politely tolerates my indulgent question concerning such “breakthrough†technologies as using hydrogen to power automobiles. “Great!†He exclaims. “Producing hydrogen can be done by the students of an introductory chemistry course. What is used though to produce this miracle? Electricity. Electricity that has already been generated - often far afield by a nuclear generation plant or a coal fired burner.†Those with hearts aflutter over the idea that hydrogen is an immediate solution are setting themselves up for grave disappointment he opines, noting with an impish grin that the building of nuclear plants for electricity generation has not equaled exactly mirrored the growth rate of mobile phones.
Yet clever planners in industrialized nations are looking for alternatives – no matter how small and seemingly insignificant each one appears – along the lines that each individual component can serve as a minor, but contributory, tool in a larger toolbox. Wind, nuclear, hybrid autos, all offer the potential to play this role in slaking the needs for what has become a most serious statecraft problem of protecting oil supplies. “Let’s look though at where the energy is being used the most†Professor Addley offers as a thought experiment. “I know it is seductive to imagine that autos alone are using the bulk of oil supplies but this would be misleading. A factory that crafts stainless steel bicycles is using far more oil that the workers did in driving their autos to work every day. The real center of usage lies in manufacturing, maritime transport, home heating, and to a somewhat lesser degree air transport.†Almost bewildered, he muses why the public has never embraced the concept of productivity per unit of energy as opposed to the raw amount of coal, oil, or atoms used. “Simple arithmetic dictates that a bus or lorry with 10 persons on board can be more efficient a mode of transport than 10 separate autos even though the bus itself may get terrible gas mileage.
All this discussion of energy production and consumption leads directly though to some new work that Professor Addley is doing with the leaders of one of the world’s premier air transport confederations and American and European financing houses. The novelty of his efforts lies in revisiting of an oft bandied about concept that will require leaps in science as well as money with which to fund the research.
Using organic material, specifically plants and waste, as a serious energy source has often been dismissed by any serious researcher for the same reasons that the wonders of hydrogen have – namely the amount of energy needed to distill the stalks and plants into a usable to form of alcohol- in other words a distillery. Additionally, large scale utilization of gases other than natural is also an elusive target as capturing the gas and bringing it to bottle has been an often rather expensive undertaking. Yet Addley and his group are hard at work trying to use different chemical accelerants, bonders, and splitters to try to marry organic and waste materials with petroleum distillates in an admixture that would yield a fuel that would be much more stable, temperature resistant, and more energy dense. Groundbreaking, to say the least, for as Professor Addley wryly remarks, the effluvium pipe of central London is certainly not what one imagines in powering a British Airways 747.
Surprisingly however, it has been this very industry that has expressed the greatest interest in the research. Long hampered by its inability to pass its costs along to the consumer and historically hamstrung by any upward spike in fuel prices, airline executives and engine manufacturers are eager to search for something new and better that they could pour into their fuel tanks….. and what better than with the, shall we politely say, remains of yesterdays lunch?
But such ambitious plans are fraught with uncertainty and the money to pursue such research has been scarce given the rather ragged track record of such proposals. Again, pouring great amounts of energy into a process in an effort to yield energy is very often merely an Escher-like exercise in futility. But here is where airline executives have stepped in to foster the work that may very well transform the “odiferous remains of the day†into a jumbo-jet taking to the wing.
By their own admission, embodying talents, skills, and visions unreachable by lesser mortals, a certain group of special airline leaders have promised to move the industry forward with a revolutionary “Waste to Wing†(W2W) project that may require as much as ₤1 billion for startup and initial trial production. These leaders are the executives of the airlines grouped under the banner of the Star Alliance headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany and they have made it their cause to tackle this difficult, if not gaseous, problem. Star Alliance officials are, by their own admission even more talented, skilled and visionary than their peers in competing air alliances, are they are exuding a confidence that they have crafted a method to secure the required funding. This of course, is where Old and New world financiers are stepping in to assist.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa German Airlines made recent hints at a symposium in Stuttgart that the spadework was being done by Star executives to use employee pay and savings to jumpstart research and production. Mayrhuber, an engineer by training, has spoken often and passionately about the beauty of businesses that have literally been started in a garage and blossomed into commercial powerhouses. If the garage was unheated, as he states, it only lends more credence to the Ur creation narrative and he cites Apple Computer and Body Shop as being just two of this elite crowd that were sprung from such humble origins. Why not, he asks, would employees not wish to be part of an undertaking with such potential – particularly as it was being led from within the rare atmosphere of the markedly talented, skilled, and visionary leaders in the Star Alliance executive chambers?
Reportedly, Star Alliance officials are working behind the scenes with the financial houses to ask workers of the major Star partners to relinquish up to 20% of their wages and benefits on a ‘temporary basis,’ as Mayrhuber nimbly points out, for the project. Here the executives are playing a very strong suite, for they know that airline employees the world over readily subsidize much of the infrastructure and costs of the air industry. Whether out of pure altruism or a simple and almost religious self-abnegation and disregard for monetary gain whilst on this earth, employees have long eschewed receiving adequate compensation in order that they may provide inexpensive tickets and deserving executive compensation packages. The architects of this plan also know that in such arrangements money borrowed in this manner would need not be paid back if the project were to falter; taking employee money carries almost no risk for the alliance. Conversely, if the project were to wildly succeed, the payouts back to the employees could be kept to a minimum, for according to the long-standing gentleman’s agreement in the industry, the first rewards would need to go to the executives who graced the enterprise with the talent, skill, and vision to make a go of it. “Yes, the monies would perhaps present a risk for the employees at the start,†Mayrhuber maintains, “but in the end the employees should get back their principle with interest and a “pat on the back and well done lad reward.†“The most important point†he goes further in stating, “is that each and every worker will know that he or she contributed to the future.†“In this light 20% of wages is of little consequence†Mayrhuber opines. “What is money in comparison to what the American president T. Roosevelt said about being in the arena?†“I already know that workers in this industry are not motivated by monetary gain, but rather the wish to be part of a greater team and in this light the glean of the coin quickly loses its luster.â€
Although it is whispered that some incredulity has met Star officials as they loft this trial balloon, Alfonse Giaciro, head of external investments at Guillemot, Broche, and Ryes thinks that more than one of the major financial houses will pounce on the idea of working out the details for the Star Alliance. “What better than a three way win†he muses. “Science and research will win because of the influx of funds and visibility of the effort. The leaders of the Star Alliance will win because it solidifies their position as men and women of exquisite and indispensable talent, skill, and vision. The workers will win because although they will be taking the greatest financial risk, they may rest assured that they were led into the future by captains of industry embodying these aforementioned attributes of talent, skill, and vision - what priceless and cherished memory to pass to their grandchildren!â€
Such wistful dreaming however, is not the stuff of sterner science in the office of Professor Addley. He has much more practical work to do - for a full and noisome effluvium pipe does not yet a flying 747 make. It is going to take employee sacrifice, shrewd financing, rare talent, skill, and vision from the executive suite, and from what it sounds like, an awful amount of eating.
