Use & Efficiency

Transportation

Aviation

Dipankar Banerjee^a1

^a1 Defence Research and Development Organisation, India

Aviation accounts for about 3% of the current global energy consumption of 15 terawatts (TW). The global annual growth of energy use in the aviation sector is likely to be around 2.15% and will exceed that in other transportation sectors, although land transport will continue to consume the largest amounts of fuel. Figure 1 displays the historical improvements in energy efficiency in the aviation sector. Fuel use is determined by both operational and technological factors. The former includes the passenger load factor, ground efficiencies, taxi procedures, take-off and landing paths and circuitry (actual distance traveled versus a great-circle distance), and changes in the mixture of old and new aircraft and propulsion systems with time. Technology factors, focusing on materials issues, are described in greater detail herein.

Dipankar Banerjee can be reached at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, 310, DRDO Bhavan, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi 110011, India; tel. +91–11–23016640, fax +91–11–23016706, and e-mail dbanerjee@hqr.drdo.in.

Banerjee is chief controller of research and development at the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), India, and coordinates its aeronautics and materials programs. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in metallurgy, and obtained his PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Banerjee started his career at the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory at Hyderabad in 1979, and was the director of the laboratory from 1996 to 2003. Banerjee is known for his contributions to the science, technology, and application of titanium alloys. He received India's national award—Padma Shri—in 2005, and is a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Academy of Engineering.