Environmentally Sustainable Work Practices And Effective Leadership For Maintenance

Environmentally Sustainable Work Practices And Effective Leadership For Maintenance

Environmental sustainability is essentially about finding ways in which organizations can maintain their basic operations while still minimizing the risk of negatively affecting the environment with any waste products. To be environmentally sustainable, organizations have to come up with more environmentally friendly ways of conducting business. At present, the environmental issues being discussed in most industries have to do with sustainability, waste management, the efficient use of energy, the clean-up practices used for waste products, and methods of recycling used goods. Sustainability has to do with using corporate assets in a way that lessens the possibility of them ruining the environment. For example, organizations can come up with ways of using less electricity or paper.

In the past, airlines have been accused of engaging in practices that result in air pollution as well as land and water pollution (Hoyle 91). This is mainly because airlines are motivated by rising fuel costs. Jet air traffic keeps steadily increasing every year. This traffic results in the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases directly into the stratosphere. This is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. Moreover, more and more airlines are taking measures to ensure that they decrease their carbon footprint. Airlines are starting to recognize that any sustainability strategies that they implement are closely monitored, and that the more they are perceived to be environmentally responsible, the more likely travelers are to pick them as their choice airlines. There are different ways through which airlines can implement environmental stability.

The Modernization of Fleets.They can modernize their airline fleets by purchasing more fuel-efficient airplanes. The designers of commercial airplanes have to face the challenge of balancing several factors to attain the most favorable airplane design which would result in less fuel usage while also improving the discharge of emissions, maintaining cruise speed, and reducing the level of noise factors that the designers have to consider include range, operating cost, reliability, payload, takeoff field length, maintainability, landing speed, and initial cruise altitude. In most suggestions for fuel efficiency, the improvements run counter to constraints effected by the prevailing market forces or aircraft manufacturers.

However, it is likely that emerging airplane engine technologies will continue trying to achieve reduced fuel use. It is estimated that by 2050, air traffic worldwide will have forced the level of global carbon dioxide emissions to rise from the present 3% to almost 500% (Brady, Ebbage and Lunn 342). Where most airlines are concerned, fuel costs even surpass labor costs as the biggest expense. Many Even while the option of renewable jet fuel is available, this type of fuel is more expensive than the petroleum-based kerosene it seeks to replace.

Lufthansa’s Compliance with Environmental Regulations- The Lufthansa Aviation Group is viewed as being one of the world’s best air transport firms. Lufthansa is easily the busiest and most successful European airline (Lufthansa). It has a number of affiliate sectors that deal in aircraft maintenance, logistics, IT, catering, and tourism services. It has also established profitable partnerships with different companies all over the world. The headquarters of the Lufthansa airline is in Cologne, Germany; however, its centre for cargo as well as passenger services is located in Frankfurt. Due to rising public awareness of the effects of different industries on the environment, airlines have long since been addressing ways in which they can contribute towards making the earth to be a more habitable place. In the airline industry, the issues that are considered to cause environmental degradation can only be successfully addressed by as a whole, and not by singular airlines by themselves.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, being one of the busiest airlines in the world, and which operates in 81 nations and through 209 destinations, has been particularly observant o different factors that contribute to preserving the environment (Lufthansa). At Lufthansa, there is a strict environmental regime that has been in place since 1999. Lufthansa’s environmental management system takes into account all the different sectors of the corporation; from administrative operations to aircraft maintenance and flight operations. Lufthansa is at the front, in the airline industry, in ensuring that it observes regulations that ensure environmental preservation. Some of the many environmentally friendly policies it has enacted include the acquisition of environmentally compatible aircraft, the reduction of carbon emissions, and the inclusion of mechanisms that effect noise reduction.

The use of New Technologies.They can also use new technologies as well as standards of fuel efficiency to reduce emissions. Enhancements that are made on aircrafts can actually contribute to fuel efficiency. Some enhancements that have been considered include the inclusion of advanced engine technology, adjustments to airframe design, and the use of rising load factors. While using alternatives to jet fuel are important, the constant enhancement of aircraft fuel efficiency also requires that improvements made to aircraft design. At present, there are a number of drag-reducing aerodynamic improvements that can be made to airplanes to develop speed while reducing flight time. These improvements include ailerons, gap seals for flaps, gear fairings, wheel pants, landing light covers, and adjustments to the exhausts.

These enhancements, when working concurrently, can increase the knots thus reducing the total flight time. Where airplanes are concerned, every one percent rise in cruise speed will save one percent in terms of flight time. The less time a plane spends in the air, the less fuel it burns. This means that this can result in less pollution while also reducing expenses for airlines. Another structural adjustment that can be made is in a plane’s propeller or engine movements for the purpose of producing more power. This increased power will allow the plane to effectively save fuel because there is reduced throttle used by the pilots to maintain the airplane’s speed (Sheldon and Yoxon 118).

Measuring Effectiveness – Other schemes effected for the sake of environmental preservation include the improvement of the booking system. The Lufthansa airline allows its clients to be able to book their tickets through their phones or online- thus contributing to the reduction of traffic congestions and consequently carbon pollution (Lufthansa). The Lufthansa airline is also actively involved in supporting environmental projects like CARIBIC and MOZAIC which seek to generate technologies that will better improve methods of preserving the environment. In the recent past, a number of Lufthansa airplanes were fitted with sensors which had the ability to gauge water vapor, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone levels. This results in the formation of databases that hold details of the global climate

Lufthansa also uses the Lido OC which is a modern flight planning system that makes use of software to determine the best routes for flights (Lufthansa). If shorter routes are used, there would be less fuel used and thus there would be less pollution. Lufthansa has also sought to support the creation of environmental preservation methods in universities, industries and research institutions.

The reduction of ‘Idling’ Time.Airlines can also seek to reduce idling times that all airplanes are subject to while also generating carbon offset programs. Airlines can invest in finding alternative sources of energy for their planes. Airplanes cause pollution when they remain on runways for long periods of time without taking off. In some airports, such idling is actually a common occurrence. These long waiting periods cost the airlines and are also quite hazardous for the environment. This is because the airline’s engines’ exhaust when planes are idling is usually deposited in high altitudes.

Alternative Sources of Jet Fuel.The aviation industry is slowly beginning to factor the use of alternative sources of fuel and the reduction of carbon emissions as its main strategic priorities. Several airlines have vested interests in the bio-fuel marketplace, and are in the process of developing new bio-fuel supplies. This is an important step as an effort to support the use of unconventional fossil fuels such as tar-sands and coal-to-liquids (CTL would negatively affect brand value and destabilize corporate stewardship (Tinsley and Pilllai 68). The use of unconventional fossil fuels generates almost double the same carbon pollution that is produced by conventional fuel. Responsibly generated bio-fuels do not produce much carbon pollution and may be a sustainable alternative to the common use of the usual jet fuels. However, bio-fuels that are poorly sourced can actually injure brand value if their effects on the environmental impacts become obvious to the public.

The aviation industry’s economic power and capacity to positively affect the bio-fuel supply chain indicates that it has a particularly important responsibility to utilize sustainable bio-fuels after first ensuring that the bio-fuels are exposed to and rigorous certification tests to validate their quality. According to the Aviation Bio-fuel Sustainability Survey, which assesses airlines that have publicized their plans to use bio-fuels in various operations, there are five main areas in which airlines claim to promote the use of sustainability- certified bio-fuels. These include:

Being members in standard sustainability groups or organizations which work to encourage sustainability certification in the development of aviation bio-fuels

The making of public commitments to check for sustainability certification when sourcing for alternative bio-fuels

The revelation of the percentage of the quantity of bio-fuels that are sustainability-certified that an airline makes use of in relation to the total bio-fuel use

The interest of an airline in monitoring the greenhouse gas emissions report on alternative bio-fuels (Brady, Ebbage and Lunn 436)

Alternative Fuels- Lufthansa was one of the first airlines to embrace the possibility of using alternative sources of fuel in order to curb environmental pollution that is often caused by jet fuel (Lufthansa). In July 2011, the airline authorized the conduction of long-term tests using bio-fuel on some of its flights. In this experiment, Lufthansa had chosen to test the fuel in an A321 Airbus, whose engine is capable of burning biosynthetic kerosene. The experiment would continue for six months. From this test, it was established that 1500 tons in carbon emissions were saved (Lufthansa). The biomass elements that were used included camelina, jatropha, and animal fats- all of which met the EU sustainability criteria.

Environmentally Sustainable Work Practices.Many airlines today are also concerned with managing environmentally sustainable systems within airline offices through the reduced wastage of office assets. In airline offices, employees can participate in sustainability programs in different ways. For example, they can work to reduce printing on both sides of office papers. They can also lessen paper wastage by using electronic files instead of paper files. Some airlines even go as far as reducing the quantity of junk mail that is received in their offices. Airlines also reduce waste by selecting products that do not require much packaging, and which can be easily recycled after use. In some airlines, business preservation practices such as the re-use of papers for printing outlines and creating scribble pads from papers printed on from one side are common. Airlines can support the use of reprocessed toner cartridges and make use of rechargeable batteries rather than single-use batteries.

According to (Haden, Oyler, and Humphreys 1045) a lot of the noise produced by the planes comes from gas turbine engines where the air flows back into the swiftly spinning fan blades at the engine front. Each blade has a spot of lower-speed air positioned behind it. When this spot moves over fixed blades which are known as stators, they generate unsteady and powerful pressures. This vacillating pressure field is what brings about the pulsating noise that is linked with aircraft engines. The recognized noise-control measures, like acoustic liners which are positioned in the engines, tend to focus on lessening the sound’s amplification after it has already been generated. There needs to be more research done in this field so that engineers can come up with better ways of containing the loud sounds produced by airplanes.

Techniques and Tools for new Targets – Lufthansa has so far created 15 environmental directives to realize substantial reductions in NO2, noise emissions, as well as CO2 by 2020. Lufthansa also aims to be utilizing nearly 10% bio-fuel blends by 2020.

Measurement and monitoring of new Practices- One of Lufthansa’s most successful sectors is its Lufthansa Technik AG which serves as its maintenance branch. Lufthansa Technik AG, which was formed in 1994, is the world’s largest independently run aircraft maintenance operation which services diverse airlines all over the world. Lufthansa Technik specializes in delivering services such as aircraft overhaul, aircraft maintenance, component checks, engine checks, assessing landing gear, and the servicing of private planes (Lufthansa). Lufthansa Technik is also involved in the production of components as well as services for new planes. For instance, after the successful launch of technical operations for the recently introduced Airbus A380, it is the Lufthansa Technik that was granted the rights of servicing and maintaining it. To be able to maintain its position, the Lufthansa Technik endeavors to ensure that it always remains at the forefront of realizing environmental proposals.

New Implementations at Lufthansa – The Lufthansa airline recently ordered for five A321neo aircraft and twenty five A320neo in its effort to continue to modernize its fleet, thereby reducing its negative effects on the environment. These new planes, which will be in operation in 2016, will be able to burn 15 percent less fuel than Lufthansa’s present models. Their level of noise pollution will also be reduced markedly. In the next few years, the Lufthansa airline will also seek to invest approximately 13 billion Euros to purchase 146 more ‘quiet’ and efficient airplanes (Lufthansa).

CONCLUSION

Airlines can drastically reduce the amount of fuel used in planes by routing, improving air traffic control operations, employing electric towing practice, and improving descent practices. Airlines can also engage in the process of modifying their airplanes or simply buying more fuel-efficient ones like Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. Airlines could also do away with taxiing using jet power and instead employ electricity to do so. Alternative propulsion machinery such a can be used through electricity has the potential to do serve the necessary purpose while also reducing the rate of environmental pollution caused by Carbon emissions. This means that this technology could save airlines’ maintenance costs as well as fuel expenses on just cost grounds.

It is also very important for alternative sources of fuel to be used instead of jet fuel. Bio-kerosene, for example, could lower the cost of jet fuel if it was approved for the use of commercial aviation. Ordinary jet fuel is produced from petroleum products which are a big factor in the creation of greenhouse gases among other hazardous emissions in the atmosphere. Bio-kerosene could actually be viable as a lower cost alternative to jet fuel. Bio-kerosene can easily be produced anywhere and so is easily more efficient to manage or transport that jet fuel. At present, aviation fuel is being used in greater amounts as the number of people choosing air travel grows steadily. When gas prices increase for different reasons, it is a common thing for airlines to pass that cost to passengers through ticket prices. Bio-kerosene could solve such issues as it is a product that can be made locally. Even if different types of fuel were to be blended, with a definite percentage being that of ordinary jet fuel, and the remainder being of bio-kerosene, the total jet fuel cost would still be reduced. Jet fuel damages the atmosphere and its use by airplanes negatively affects global warming. Using alternative fuel sources that are sustainable and renewable is one of the best ways for airlines to contribute towards preserving the environment.

Works Cited

Brady, John, Allison Ebbage and Ruth Lunn. Environmental Management in Organizations: The IEMA Handbook. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.

Haden, Stephanie, Oyler, Jennifer and Humphreys, John. “Historical, practical and theoretical perspectives on green management: an exploratory analysis.” Management Decision 47. 7 (2009): 1041-55.

Hoyle, David. Quality Management Essentials. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.

Lufthansa. “Environmental Goals and Measures.” 2008. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from

HYPERLINK “http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/downloads/verantwortung/lh_umweltziele.pdf” http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/downloads/verantwortung/lh_umweltziele.pdf

Sheldon, Christopher, and Mark Yoxon. Environmental Management Systems: A Step-by-Step Guide to Implementation and Maintenance. London: Routledge, 2006. Print.

Tinsley, Steven, and Llona Pilllai. Environmental Management Systems: Understanding Organizational Drivers and Barriers. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.