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Aviation Industry Expo 2009 featured seminars geared toward the ground support industry in the areas of alternative technology and conducting business internationally. Here are some of the highlights of each.
Alternative Fuels
Panelists:
Bill Jacob, vice president of airline ground support equipment, UPS
Kevin Morrow, vice president, Electric Transportation Engineering Co.
Greg Zilberfarb, education and outreach consultant, Propane Education and Research Council
The group of panelists gathered to discuss the latest innovations in alternative technology and how those developments could have application in the GSE industry.
Bill Jacob, vice president of airline ground support equipment at UPS, gave an overview of the company’s commitment to alternative technologies. The company boasts the largest private fleet of alternative-fueled vehicles. With 100,000 ground vehicles worldwide, the company has experimented with a number of different technologies, including electric, CNG, LNG, propane, electric hybrid, and hydraulic hybrid.
Jacob says a promising alternative technology is the hydraulic hybrid, which combines a small diesel engine with hydraulic components. The company has seen a 50-percent improvement in fuel economy in laboratory testing and a 40 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.
“You’re seeing that technology in refuse haulers now. You’re starting to see it come out in the on-road [vehicles] and obviously everything that has an on-road style chassis, it can use this hydraulic hybrid concept,” Jacob says. “We think it will come into GSE.”
Another alternative technology that was discussed was hydrogen. Kevin Morrow, vice president of Electric Transportation Engineering Co., discussed the company’s work in building hydrogen stations, and its recent conversion of F-150 vehicles to hydrogen.
Greg Zilberfarb, education and outreach consultant at the Propane Education and Research Council, discussed the various applications for propane-fueled equipment. As an alternative technology, it has grown to be used in more than 12 million vehicles worldwide.
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