US/Indonesia agreement on sustainable air transportation and aviation alternative fuels
29 October 2015
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently signed an agreement to promote developing and using sustainable, alternative aviation fuels and additional environmental collaboration between the two nations. FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker said that the MOU’s primary focus areas are research and development of alternative aviation fuels; energy conservation; environmental protection and sustainable aviation growth; critical information and personnel exchange; strengthened capacity-building; and, the sharing of best practices.
The agreement will create additional partnership opportunities between the US Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) and Indonesia’s Aviation Biofuels and Renewable Energy Task Force (ABRETF). Both organizations have similar goals and successes, such as developing alternative fuels that can be used in existing engines.
In addition to CAAFI, a primary FAA NextGen environmental effort is its Continuous Lower Energy, Emission and Noise (CLEEN) program. In this program, the FAA works with selected industry partners in exploring, developing and deploying technologies and procedures that save fuel and thereby reduce emissions.
A key focus of the CLEEN partnership has been testing renewable, alternative fuels. During the last five years, the FAA and its partners have paved the way for producing and using at least three new aircraft fuels. More alternative fuels are expected in the near future as the program enters its second five-year phase (CLEEN II).
(In September, the FAA awarded $100 million in contracts to eight companies to develop and demonstrate technologies that reduce fuel consumption, emissions, and noise under the CLEEN II program. Earlier post.)
This agreement with Indonesia will also allow the FAA to further leverage the work of the Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT), which is the agency’s Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels and Environment.
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