Airbus A380 completes flight powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel
Spotted: Aviation accounts for around 2.5 per cent of global carbon dioxide, but its actual contribution to climate change is much higher. This is because air travel not only emits CO2, but also a number of other pollutants—such as nitrogen oxides and particulates—along with water vapour, which triggers cloud formation. These emissions are also released higher up in the atmosphere than with other forms of transportation, resulting in a greater warming effect. For this reason, replacing aviation fuel with more sustainable options has become something of a holy grail in the sustainability sector.
Now, Airbus has made new progress, with an A380 flight powered entirely with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The flight used an A380 test aircraft MSN 1 and lasted around three hours – taking off from Blagnac Airport in Toulouse. The 27 tonnes of SAF fuel used in the flight was provided by TotalEnergies, and was produced locally, in Normandy.
Like other brands of SAF, the TotalEnergies fuel is made from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA). These are free of aromatics and sulphur, and were made primarily using used cooking oil and other waste fats, such as animal waste fat as feedstock. These fats are then refined to produce a fuel that has a very similar chemistry to traditional jet fuel. However, in addition to being produced from waste, rather than fossil fuels, SAF also contains fewer impurities (such as sulphur), which means fewer emissions.
According to Airbus, this is the third Airbus aircraft type to fly on 100 per cent SAF in the past year. Earlier flights included an Airbus A350 in March 2021, and an A319neo single-aisle aircraft in October 2021. However, the A380 is the largest of the three to fly entirely on SAF. The company claims that, “Increasing the use of SAF remains a key pathway to achieving the industry’s ambition of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
At the moment, each passenger on a round-trip flight between New York and London requires more emissions than used by an average person in Paraguay during an entire year. So it’s no wonder that SAF is increasingly in the spotlight. Springwise has seen this with innovations such as an SAF made using captured CO2. And in 2021, United Airlines completed the world’s first commercial flight powered entirely by SAF.
Written By: Lisa Magloff
11th April 2022
Website: airbus.com
Contact: airbus.com/en/airbus-contact-us
““Color is a power which directly influences the soul.” — Wassily Kandinsky
“Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is an urban settlement located on San Cristobal Island in Galapagos. Since 1959, any horizontal expansion of the urban areas is not allowed to protect the environment, nowadays is facing serious economic issues.
“This piece is more of a political statement to depict how the built environment can affect nature. The columns represent tall leafless trees in the forest. The concrete floors are dried out soil. The lack of colour represents most architecture today which is very monochromatic and dull without paying homage to the nature around it. The architecture industry needs to embrace nature more by incorporating living walls, green roofs, natural light and colour.”
“”It was a longer winter than usual and time to leave the cabin, snowstorm, and mountains behind. The travel guidebooks were read end-to-end and accommodations booked early, the duffel packed full and ready. Then breaking news…”
“Architecture is in drag when it imitates architecture. It is a performance identifying and innovating upon the architect’s unknown knowns. This is one such performance. Architecture, known as stable, secure and structured is imitated as fluid. Similarly, this dress, or perhaps this building, is a ball house; an imitation of the architectural house. The latter is a place of comfort and shelter but not for all.
“”She has everything she needs inside the duplex cabin. A living area full of light and warm wood, a cozy cave-like bedroom and a bathroom overlooking the mountains. She spends all day outside, taking pictures and enjoying the landscape, happy to come back here for a warm shower and a quiet night.”
“In architecture, we often tend to only depict the beautiful and flawless parts while forgetting that it is the patina of a certain material or the irregularity in a structure that brings out the real beauty of a scene. Therefore, “Nature Takes Over Again” depicts an urban dystopia where nature is slowly but surely taking back what it once lost to humankind.
“I remember the anger when the noise came…where was my forest???
“”Geometric proportions turn into shivers, stone into tears, rituals into revelations, light into grace, space into contemplation, and time into divine presence.” – Julio Bermudez
“This piece was inspired by Villa-Giulia in Rome, a building historically located at the emergence of the Baroque style. Its most interesting feature is the layered garden. Two levels underground is the most sacred area, the “Nymphaeum”, where the residents could rest, dine or meet with guests. A fountain and multiple marble statues enrich this place and create an idyllic atmosphere.
“This piece was inspired by the 20th century photographer Berenice Abbott and her collection about the New-York-City street life. I was fascinated by her dramatic yet melancolic imagery and tried to adapt elements like the strong light-shafts which pierce through the narrow streets and highlight a small, specific area. The surreal coloration of the material and the sometimes weird form language are supposed to strengthen the melancolic and almost dreamlike mood.”
“A powerful and evocative gesture, a reinterpretation of the monument in a modern key.
“A fantastical recreation of the Golden Gallery at Schloss Charlottenburg, a mesmerizing interior space of splendid decoration rich with sculpture, textiles, and mirrors.”
“Mirage, is an illustration for an exhibition space based on a dream I once had, in a time not so distant from ours. Illustrating a post-apocalyptic future, situated in a transitory exhibition space, presenting visitors to the notions of both individuality and conformity. While the focus is primarily on the people who are shaping the architectural outlook according to thier present reality, feelings of fascination and longing for freedom and peace, during uncertain times are also expressed through their disconnect from the brutal nature of thier surroundings.”
“Generally, we tend to admire the most impressive, popular and most commonly knows as “beautiful” buildings and sites in the world. I sometimes try to shift my attention to a different kinds of sites and places. From time to time I find myself falling in love with those dark, shady and almost transparent places on one hand, but at the same time, places that are full of details, mystery, unique textures and life. In my opinion we need to pay attention to those places. Appreciate them, take a closer look at them. I’m positive that we’ll find something new each and every time we do.”
“// The sound of the ocean,
“Set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian context where people are challenged to ‘Inhabit the Uninhabitable’, this project explores themes of discovery, new beginnings, and a sense of place. Located in the heart of the Patagonian Forest in South America, the project’s landscaping takes inspiration from the 100,000 hectares of land that fosters biological diversity.
“The Japanese hold Mount Fuji in a special place in their hearts respecting the mystical qualities of the cone-shaped mountain for many generations. A long time ago in Japan a belief arose that spirits of the dead climbed up mountains and became gods (kami) at the peak. From al mountains Mount Fuji is sacred in particular. Japanese Buddhists revere the mountain is a gateway to another world.
“Sitting in a big boat, sailing slowly in the river, watching the local fisherman standing with his cormorants on the traditional bamboo raft with lanterns near a small village hiding behind the morning fog and large mountains, and only small ships with candles flutter in the water, luring fish that one of the cormorants is ready to catch right now and bring to his master whose not just smiled, it was as if he was blooming leisurely, surprised himself that he was smiling and blooming…
“The climate and ecological crisis are no longer fringe concerns. From stratospheric ozone depletion, air and water quality degradation to deforestation, they are URGENT EXISTENTIAL THREATS to the human race. We must act to reset our relationship with nature. Rewilding our city restores the area to its centuries-long practice of HUMAN SUPREMACY to ECOLOGICALLY CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISM. Our capitalist culture requires this constant consumption and disposal.
“It’s late afternoon, the sun is setting and the last vestiges of light are streaming through the Tamarack trees. It’s winter and the icy cold river is just starting to thaw at the bank as hope for Spring abounds. The warm glow of the cabins glow against the cool blue landscape as campfire smoke drifts through the larches.”
“Look at the sky; remind yourself of the cosmos. Seek vastness at every opportunity in order to remind yourself that you are a small cog in an enormous machine.
“An ode to minimalism and graphics. We play with shapes and elements of nature. Experimenting with the horse figures, wintery landscape, and minimalist structures gave us what we needed: a balance of sharpness and sinuosity.
“Situated in the middle of Utopia Planitia, a broad plain in the northeast of Mars, Colony III was settled in 2040 and opened to intrepid visitors a few years later. It sits on top of a vast underground ice reserve which contains as much water as the entire Great Lakes system combined. Each structure of the Colony III resort that houses you during your stay is covered by state-of-the-art ceramic-graphene shields to provide the utmost safety from gamma rays while making your stay as comfortable as possible.
“Rainy evening in downtown New York. Wet asphalt, night city lights, and the never-sleeping life in the Big Apple.”
Iturbide Studio by TALLER Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo, Mexico City, Mexico
Cultural Center at Centro Educativo de Morelia by doho constructivo + Iván Marín Arquitectura, Morelia, Mexico
Pavilion ( ) by MICHAN ARCHITECTURE, Kababie Arquitectos, Colectivo Seis and Taller Paralelo Mexico City, Mexico
Casa UC by Daniela Bucio Sistos // Taller de Arquitectura y Diseño, Morelia, Mexico
1200 Bricks Little Chapel by S-AR, Santiago, Mexico
Saint Peter House by Cafeína Design, Cholula, Mexico
Ruta del Peregrino Refugies by Luis Aldrete, Jal., Mexico
“This image is part of a set of images developed for a competition for the 7th bridge on Douro’s river in Porto, Portugal. Porto is a very foggy city, with a very peculiar light. We tried to embrace this atmosphere, alongside the idea of scales, between the old city and the new architecture.
“This image is part of a set of images done for the Environment Museum Design Competition, V.N. Gaia, Portugal. We got inspired by the natural materials like concrete and brick, of this very straight forward auditorium, and wanted to give this atmosphere of deep space, a hole on the ground like somewhere between Wieliczka Salt Mine and James Turrel.”
“In the cottage in the mountain, you don’t have to buy flowerpots and plant all kinds of flowers and plants in order to create a quiet and elegant environment like city people. There are countless flowers and plants in the mountains. As long as you set foot outdoors, you will enjoy countless fragrances and surprises. These beautiful messengers of nature breathe the breath of the mountains, enjoy the sunshine of the mountains, suck the rain and dew of the mountains, and bloom gorgeous and dazzling flowers.”
“What happens when post-anthropogenic destruction of forests has necessitated a new paradigm of above-ground forestry labs, catalyzing the radiant hope for a flourishing of ecosystems of mycelium and plant growth? “Do Look Up” is predicated upon the anxieties of living and reconciling with the preceding age of environmental collapse and landscape desolation.
“The image depicts one of the icons of the city of Copenhagen, the Opera house, designed by the Danish architect Henning Larsen between 2001 and 2004. During my trip to the Danish capital I took some photos of it and used them as a reference to reproduce this personal work of mine. I focused my attention on reproducing a lighting that could emphasize not only the building but the whole context.
“The Context: The Cipea house is located within a natural forest context in Nanjing, China, the introspective architecture brings the main focus inward allowing the organically shaped openings to simulate the shape of a traditional Chinese scroll cohabiting with the immediate landscape.
“He stopped at the edge of giant round space and looked up at the delirious structure towering beyond the entire landscape. The main ring rose in the last few months over 10 cm through the accelerating speed of rising water caused by massive iceberg melting. In everyone’s mind was if the height of the pillars is enough to protect them from an ongoing catastrophe. Floating City has been growing in the past decade extremely quickly, as the area of dry land was shrinking.
“A house being swallowed by the sea
“The park is in an envisioned theme set in the 1960’s retro futuristic Latin America. Visitors can feel the experience of a ‘wild’ space where nature harmonizes with its architectural surroundings making it appear organic. Using landmarks that defined generations of happy memories as a source of inspiration it engages with the possibility of extension and adaptability with different influential settings of culture. The park has created lifelike androids that ‘act’ as the animals supplanting their real counterparts for education and entertainment purposes. Although it’s an engaging experience, people will still need to use their own ‘air purifiers’ because things are never what they seem. Tailored prevention inside the park is most important. One never knows what could happen… A reality not so different from our own.”
“The Ocean Regeneration Alliance becomes a beacon of hope in the South China Sea and seeks to create regional peace through cooperative ocean protection efforts. Reassessing our relationship with ocean plastics and oil rigs, and turning our problems into potential solutions.
“Dubbed “The Disk House”, the design of this circular, see-through residence, came as response to the Covid lockdown.The concept of the Disk House is to have 360 degrees views, with no sharp corners and no obstructive columns. “Being locked down for so many months now, made me realize how important the connection with the exterior is – and how much a glazed surface can do for you. Transparency is immaterial, hence your space always feels much larger and it creates a positive mental psyche”, says Karim.
“This image represent one of the iconic architecture of Brutalism: the Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Highway Construction (today Bank of Georgia) located in Tblisi (Georgia). The concept of this work, ideally inspired by Christopher Herwing’s photography , is to restore luster to architectures “unexpectedly beautiful” of brutalism; from that the idea of conceiving the image as a postcard, extrapolating the architecture from its current decay context and make it the protagonist.
“The image has been created for a design competition featuring a high rise commercial development in Hudson Yards, New York. A rhythmic and geometric composition has been chosen over a more dramatic perspective to bring focus to the subtleties of the facade and lobby space behind.”
“The LAX 2150 Spaceport imagines what the travel center may become as our civilization inevitably trends towards advancement. As technology becomes more complex and the population grows, new challenges arise for architectural planners. How will flying vehicles be accommodated? How will giant crowds move through LAX? How will climate pollution and sustainability be addressed?
“- Hey! Im glad you could make it.
“The image depicts a contemporary concept theater hall in Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia that stages the ballet dance performance called “Succubus”.
“Fourteen billion pounds of trash, most of it plastic, is carelessly dumped in the world’s oceans every year. The enormity of this waste problem requires an equally scaled solution. The Eden Initiative is a waste-to-energy plant that seeks to converge and address two of the greatest challenges confronting mankind today—pollution of our oceans and pollution of our atmosphere.
“It will happen soon. Sooner than you expect.
“An oil painter sets up a temporary studio in an empty Victorian drawing-room. Having the best light in the house, it will make a perfect temporary workspace. A rug is pushed to the back of the room as the space slowly fills with finished and unfinished works, half-used paint tubes and dirty paint water glasses. Rolls of paper overflow into the hallway, accompanying forgotten paintbrushes and drops of paint now soaked into the hardwood floor.
“In a time not too far in the future, most of us people have already moved to the digital world of Metaverse. However, a lot of communities in our society are having some difficulty accepting the idea of this unusual and strange piece of technology.
“In history, architecture has been an instrument to worship gods, emperors, and kings. In modern times, with a world moving towards a godless season, architecture hasn’t lost its symbolic value. The greatest locations are saved for those buildings that move people, gather them, and educate them. A temple of culture, a natural museum. Sitting on the coastline, in harmony with the rocky shore, showing a glittering skin like that of a giant snake sitting on the water. A strong palette of warm colors was the chosen to give a mystic atmosphere.”
“Surrealism is the new reality. Inspired by the masters of surrealism of Europe, the image shows a simple concept about the boundaries of the space, the beyond and the void.”
“Nothing more to do. Only darkness.”
“”In a reality where everything starts to melt into the same paradigm, the essence of differentiation shall resurface again.” In my rendering, I took an unorthodox approach in which I tried to fuse the abstractness of what I imagine about differentiation in the process of designing a structure in architecture. The iridescent glass structure above the white Mustang, resembles differentiation while also revealing the essence of creativity of architecture. Its surrounded by all concrete structures, depicting the monotony. The cubic structures above the same type of vehicle’s depict the exact same theme as the surrounding environment.”
“The unity of nature and architectural form. The architecture seems to echo the shapes of the swans that live there, turning into waves and distorting the shape. It’s like a big stroke trying to unite the architecture with its surroundings by repeating it.”