Sustainability at Chicago O’Hare International Airport

The Dar Group is proud to have led the sustainability initiatives of the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) since 2003. The CDA recently announced the $8.5 billion O’Hare 21 development program, which includes terminal redevelopment and other capital program at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. CDA updated thier industry-leading Sustainable Airport Manual (SAM) earlier this year to enhance the focus on sustainability strategies for terminal space, and to enhance the passenger experience. SAM will continue to be incorporated into all O’Hare 21

The partnership between the United Nations Climate Change and Airports Council International has sparked growth in the climate action of airports. These actions include emission reductions by airport operators: investment in renewable energy; energy efficient lighting and heating systems; and operational changes.

To successfully reduce their carbon footprints, airport operators need to invest in two critical areas. First is the need to shift to more sustainable energy sources to replace aviation fuel. Secondly, design energy sustainable airports that do not consume massive amounts of energy. Our airport sustainability expert Richard Palmer walks us through what it would take to make airports attain zero carbon emissions.

Challenges That Airports Face In Reducing Their Footprint

Airports have unique needs that make it challenging to adopt sustainable practices immediately. Here are some key challenges that impact airports in their mission to zero-carbon airports.

• Addressing scope three emissions. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that many airports worldwide face is how to deal with scope three emissions. Simply defined, Scope 3 emissions are emissions from third parties or activities from their assets that the airports have no control over or do own. Airports do not own the planes that land on their premises, which may be challenging to regulate.

• Little to no technological substitutes. Most industries hitting their carbon reduction goals have technology to thank. However, there are no technological substitutes for fossil fuels in the aviation industry. This makes it generally difficult to reduce carbon emissions due to how airports and the aviation industry are set up.

• Slow industry trends. We have seen lots of disruption in other industries but almost no change in how the aviation industry works recently. Richard Palmer, our industry expert, ascertains that the aviation industry hasn’t seen much change. Aviation leaders have to wait for significant events such as the 9/11 bombing to change their operations.

Realistic Routes To Zerocarbon Airports

Airports can adopt impactful approaches that can make them sustainable even if they do not have the resources to make massive changes. Here are three actions that an airport can do to attain net zero carbon emissions.

Optimize their buildings and operations

Airports offer an intermodal form of transport as they deal with both land and air transport. While it may be difficult to reduce the footprint from the aviation aspect, operators can streamline some processes to make them energy efficient.

They can do so by reducing their reliance on electricity and increasing their use of renewable energy from local firms. Renewable energy can help heat the buildings, cooling, cooking, and even lighting.

Airports also have to think about the electrification of vehicles in their premises since they offer intermodal transport. According to Richard Palmer, they can contract car hire services that use electric cars or even set up charging ports for their clients.

Localized generation of power

It may be difficult for airports to generate renewable energy. However, they can look up to their surrounding local communities for help. Airports can enter partnership agreements with local solar and even wind energy producers. Alternatively, they can set up their renewable energy systems, such as investing in roof solar.

Offset residual carbon

It may be difficult to attain net-zero carbon emission as there is bound to be residual carbon. This is because airports are made from other materials that may also have a footprint. A great way around this is focusing on the big solutions that can make an impact, such as reducing carbon footprint by 95%. Airports should also focus on nature-based solutions and avoid commercial solutions that will require expensive investments.

Top 3 Things For An Airport To Do To Be Sustainable

While sustainability may prove difficult for airports, it is not entirely out of reach. Airport operators can take a couple of actions to step up their net-zero emissions campaign. These are some things that operators can do today for a more sustainable industry.

Sign renewable power purchase agreements. Airports need to end their over-reliance on non-renewable sources of energy. Yes, there is currently no renewable energy for jet fuel, but there are other ways to reduce your overall carbon footprint.

Richard Palmer suggests signing renewable power purchase agreements to reduce the dependence on electricity and other non-clean fuel. Such renewable energy can come in handy when powering other airport operations. This may seem insignificant to some, but such small acts merge at the end to create a much more significant impact. The goal here is to get as many of your systems in renewable energy as possible.

Energy operations optimization. Savvy airport operators should know how much of their operations are energy efficient. Our industry expert, Richard Palmer, says that there are probably lots of fat in the system if you haven’t done anything to address your carbon/energy emissions.

If you have old systems in your airport, you may be running unnecessary operations that eat up your energy. Richard Palmer argues that airports should follow the example of property organizations that seek to minimize their energy consumption year after year.

This is possible through conducting regular energy audits, embracing energy performance contracting, and creating incentives for the whole organization to adopt sustainable practices. Other ways include having lighting controls, efficient air conditioning, microgrid types systems, and shared thermals systems. Adopting such practices opens you up to green financing that can help them improve their operations.

Good resilience planning. It is impossible to know what will adversely affect the aviation industry. That said, the best airport operators have great resilience planning that helps them when things turn for the worse.

A good resilience plan should outline what to expect, such as extreme weather patterns or storms. You can then get the primary and secondary impacts on buildings, land, and air transport. With this, you can build scenarios and even contingencies on climate issues that may affect your airport operations. You can also take advantage of emerging technology such as hydrogen fuel, batteries, and other synthetic fuels.