A sustainable future for air travel: The Keflavík method

Iceland’s Keflavík Airport is a growing hub for international travel. Like the country itself, which straddles the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, the airport sits at the crossroads between two continents.

Air travel today also finds itself at a crossroads. With calls for caps to the frequency of air traffic in order to reduce carbon footprint, the burden of choice is most frequently placed on the individual consumer and traveller. While we should consider travelling by air as only one choice for transportation across long and short distances alongside other modes, it is unrealistic to plan for a future in which flying does not play a major role in our way of life. In other words, we should reduce the volume of commercial air travel as much as we can, but also look for solutions to decarbonise.

With all this in mind, what could a more systemic solution for a greener future for air travel look like?

In collaboration with the design firm KCAP, Buro Happold has developed a masterplan for the Suðurnes Peninsula, which includes Keflavík International Airport. The project encompasses the creation of new industrial, commercial, and research districts alongside the existing airport facilities. Specifically, Buro Happold is providing sustainability consultancy services to devise a regional energy strategy that draws from the airport’s unique location and natural resources on the peninsula and that investigates the possibilities of decarbonising air travel. Working closely with the architects and the local and national government, Buro Happold’s Energy team leverages a specific set of skills and knowledge to develop long-term solutions rooted in local conditions but global implications.

Decarbonising air travel using electricity

KCAP and Buro Happold’s Keflavík Airport Area Strategic Masterplan, or K64—so named because of its location along the 64th parallel north—proposes several potential solutions, including a strategy for relying on renewable local energy systems to support aviation infrastructure. Iceland is a world leader in clean, sustainable energy production. Currently, 100% of the country’s electricity is produced by renewable means, largely hydroelectric and geothermal. Transportation and aviation in Iceland still rely on fossil fuels, accounting for 15% of total energy use. K64 illustrates the possibility of using electricity to decarbonise air travel in the short term, without the need for significant changes to existing aviation infrastructure, such as aircraft engines and the fuelling system at the airport.

Both ReFuel EU and the US Aviation Climate Action Plan have set a target of decarbonising the global aviation industry by 2050. This is an ambitious and challenging goal. In their research for K64, Buro Happold’s Energy team concluded that a new kind of synthetic aviation fuel that is chemically similar to kerosene and could be a substitute for the existing fuel offers a way forward.

Synthetic aviation fuel as a way forward

Synthetic aviation fuel is chemically similar to kerosene and can be produced using a series of processes that have been understood for almost a century. Kerosene is a mix of hydrocarbons, which consist of long chains of hydrogen and carbon atoms. Fresh water from the environment can be split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity, in a process known as electrolysis. CO₂, either absorbed from the air or produced as industrial or domestic waste, can be transformed into carbon monoxide. When hydrogen and carbon monoxide are mixed at high temperatures and pressures, hydrocarbons are produced. These hydrocarbons can then be cut into the desired lengths with a carbon-cracking process that relies on steam. The length of hydrocarbon chains determines whether a hydrocarbon is a natural gas (short), kerosene (medium), or a wax (long).

A global shift across the aviation sector

K64 provides an opportunity to integrate sustainable aviation fuel into the operation of an international airport and demonstrates the possibility of making a sustainable shift across the aviation sector worldwide. The Keflavík Airport Area could develop the energy capacity needed to produce synthetic aviation fuel for a considerable share of flights. By expanding renewable energy capacities in the airport region and making use of existing resources, most notably two nearby geothermal power plants, the masterplan defines a holistic approach to energy production and consumption.

Fundamentally, K64 is intended to facilitate the development of a sustainable business model, inform the decision-making process of municipalities regarding the creation of jobs and the strengthening of local infrastructure, and increase the production of renewable energy. Achieving these objectives relies principally on Iceland’s renewable energy sources—hydroelectric, geothermal, and wind.

Adapting the Keflavík method

The plan for the production of synthetic aviation fuel exemplifies the kind of sustainable-minded approach to the aviation industry that is necessary for the future of commercial air travel. Sustainable aviation fuel is one solution among many possibilities for Keflavík and around the world. Although the natural conditions around Keflavík Airport, and in Iceland overall, are unique, the approach to energy in K64 offers a strategy that can be adapted and applied across contexts. Buro Happold’s Energy team uses the entirety of the context at hand to propose a solution that ensures lasting, sustainable operation.