By 2050 air travel is expected to increase six fold, and greenhouse gas emissions are projected to rise 50 percent. Planes are among the largest consumers of fossil fuels and emitters of greenhouse gases. So any way to save planes gas will surely impact greenhouse emissions. Cambridge University and Boeing have joined forces to build a hybrid airplane, one that sources its power from batteries stored in the wings and a conventional engine. The hybrid plane has 16 lithium batteries that send power to and charge from the engine at various times, operating much like a Toyota Prius hybrid car. Hybrid commercial jets are still a few decades away but this initial project showed promising results.
Hybrid aircraft takes flight
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