Going green

We shine the spotlight on the latest sustainability efforts of Munich, LaGuardia and Washington DC’s airports and a handful of the award winning projects in ACI Asia-Pacific and Middle East’s Green Recognition 2024 programme.

Munich Airport trialling new sustainable energy system

An innovative system for sustainable energy generation from both wind and solar power is currently in use at Munich Airport.

The system utilises a container with photovoltaic panels and wind rotors from FlowGen, a company that specialises in green energy system solutions.

In co-operation with Munich Airport, the mobile energy container is being used to charge electric vehicles in a trial project that is expected to last 12 months.

The energy container is located in a parking lot used by car rental companies on the east side of the airport. There, newly delivered rental cars will be charged using energy generated by three small wind turbines and photovoltaic panels.

On a windy and sunny day, the test container can produce around 200 kilowatt hours of energy, which is enough to charge four to six electric cars. During the course of the project, a wide range of data will be collected and analysed as the renewable energy is generated.

The unique system combines the small wind turbine developed by FlowGen with solar and battery storage technologies and can be customised using intelligent energy management software.

FlowGen’s container solution can be installed in a short period of time and easily dismantled and reassembled at new locations. In addition to use at airports and for charging electric vehicles, it offers a wide range of applications in areas such as agriculture, construction, and the manufacturing industry.

Utilising AI in the recycling process at LaGuardia

Living sustainably can be as big as a building massive solar carport, or as small as tossing a banana peel in a composting bin, writes the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Ruchi Patel.

Along with its marquee eco-friendly projects, the Port Authority has been working alongside its operating partners everywhere from the World Trade Center to LaGuardia Airport to turn trash into nutrient-rich treasure and move closer to the agency’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Composting involves discarding leftovers such as fruit peels, food and paper products into a special bin. The materials decompose easily to enrich soil for gardening and farming, while cutting down on landfilling and its associated emissions.

Several unique initiatives are underway to encourage composting and recycling among the millions of travellers who move through the agency’s facilities.

At LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B, for example, passengers can throw their leftover bites and packaging into categorised bins with the help of Oscar. The AI tool scans passengers’ trash through a camera and directs them to the appropriate bin in front of them.

“With recycling rules varying from state to state, often times our guests are unsure which items they should recycle,” said Justin Bland, the manager of environmental compliance and sustainability of terminal operator LaGuardia Gateway Partners. “Oscar AI takes the guess work out of it for our guests. This reduces stress for guests and of course helps the terminal recycle more waste.”

MWAA’s issues inaugural ESG Impact Report

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has released its inaugural Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Impact Report, which highlights a number of significant achievements in 2023.

The 58-page report – which replaces the Corporate Social Responsibility report from previous years – reveals how MWAA recycled over four tons of electronics, 31 tons of paper and 440 pounds of toner.

In addition, MWAA installed 12 mobile liquid collection stations at security checkpoints to reduce the weight of municipal solid waste and disposal costs; promoted sustainable mobility which resulted in over 4,000 Capital Bikeshare riders at Reagan National Airport and over one million riders at the Dulles International Airport Metro station on the Silver Line; and broke ground on a 100-megawatt solar facility at Dulles that is slated for completion in 2026.

Queenstown Airport’s biodiversity project

Queenstown Airport has received international recognition for its support of a local wetland restoration project.

The New Zealand gateway has received a Platinum Award in ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East’s ‘Green Airports Recognition’ programme for its collaboration with the Wakatipu Reforestation Trust and the Shotover Primary School to restore the Shotover Wetland.

The airport has committed to long-term financial assistance and help with planting sessions, community engagement, and education days. Its involvement has accelerated the project, with a target to fully restore the wetland within 10 years.

The Green Airports Recognition judging panel assessed Queenstown Airport against other airports in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East handling up to eight million passengers a year.

Airport chief executive, Glen Sowry, says working through the ACI Green Airports Recognition process was a fantastic opportunity to benchmark Queenstown Airport’s efforts.

“Since the introduction of our Sustainability Strategy five years ago, we’ve seen a 65% reduction in total greenhouse gases from our operations.

“We know we’ve made some good progress, and we’re really proud of that, but we have great ambition in this space, and we know there’s a lot more we can do to champion sustainability and biodiversity in this region. Queenstown Airport is deeply conscious of the need to protect what makes this special place unique.”

Sara Irvine, Queenstown Airport’s general manager sustainability and corporate affairs, notes that wetlands are a crucial, but often neglected, part of the region’s ecosystem, filtering toxins from water as it runs off land into rivers. Wetland plants also sequester carbon from the atmosphere and provide habitat for wildlife.

“In the past 150 years, more than 90% of New Zealand’s wetlands have been destroyed. This makes the protection of remaining wetlands urgent,” she says.

“The Shotover Wetland, east of the confluence of the Shotover and Kawarau rivers, is deemed regionally significant and is very close to the airport and the homes of many of our staff and customers. It’s exciting to be part of its restoration.”

Creation of a seaweed bed environment at KIX

Kansai Airports’ ‘Creating a rich seaweed bed and blue carbon’ project at Kansai International Airport (KIX) has also received a Platinum Award in the Green Airports Recognition 2024 programme organised by ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East.

As an offshore airport, KIX has been actively working to create a seaweed bed environment that provides a habitat for marine life, in harmony with the marine environment, since the development plan of the airport.

The gently sloping rubble mound seawalls used for most of the seawalls allow light to reach a wide area, making it easy for seaweed to grow. Its efforts to plant seaweed and preserving it by continuously monitoring the status have resulted in the creation of a rich seaweed bed environment, leading to the diversity of the marine ecosystem.

Indeed, the project contributes to the conservation of biodiversity at the airport and to the reduction of CO2 emissions through the seaweed beds.

KIX CEO, Yoshiyuki Yamaya (pictured above) was in Riyadh to receive the airport’s Green Airports Recognition award at the ACI Asia Pacific & Middle East’s Regional Assembly in Saudi Arabia.

Kansai Airports notes that it “will continue to promote company-wide efforts to reduce its environmental impact and contribute to the realisation of a sustainable society through the operation of airports, which are public infrastructure.”

Hong Kong’s award-winning marine project

Hong Kong International Airport’s ‘Marine Ecology and Fisheries Enhancement Strategy’ project was another to win the highest Platinum Award in the ACI Green Airports Recognition 2024 programme, achieving success in the category for airports handling over 35 million passengers per annum.

Peter Lee, Airport Authority Hong Kong’s general manager for sustainability, enthuses: “We are honoured to receive this award, which commends our voluntary and continuous efforts to explore and enhance local marine biodiversity and fisheries resources around HKIA and North Lantau waters.

“The efforts, namely eco-enhancement of seawall designs, deployment of artificial reefs and shellfish reefs, and fish restocking, were first investigated by experts, with pilot tests following on intended to determine the viability and real-world value of promising enhancements.

“With positive biodiversity impacts identified, we are in the process of scaling up these initiatives around the airport, and importantly, these nature-based efforts will serve as a useful reference for future implementation by others across broader Hong Kong waters.”