Solar energy could power jets in the future

With the rising global warming posing threat to humanity by exacerbating climate change, more sustainable ways are being considered to protect the world from further degradation. Swiss scientists are now considering solar-powered jets for aircraft, in attempt to reduce dangerous emission in the atmosphere.

“Oil is a limited resource; at some point you will run out. What we propose is another route to the same chemical, using solar energy,” said Phillip Furler of Swiss technology institute ETH Zurich.

The solar thermochemistry technology involves concentrating sunlight to produce huge heat which then translates to electricity. Reported in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, Furler and his colleagues stated that a high temperature solar reactor is split into carbon dioxide and water to make syngas or synthetic natural gas which composes of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. An industrial process then converts the syngas into kerosene.

The switch to solar energy in aeronautics is becoming a quick trend in relation to the battle against climate change. Last 2016, a solar-powered aircraft named Solar Impulse 2 traveled 24,855 miles and landed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

With the flight industry being described as "one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions” by the European Commission, scientists are eager to change the track and make the air transport a sustainable field in terms of propagating earth conservation and protection.