Using the moniker SUGAR (Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research), Boeing has been hard at work developing a series of jets that will take us from point A to point B in the future. They’ve already developed concepts for a hybrid-electric passenger jet, and now with the SUGAR Freeze, they reveal their plans for an aircraft powered by natural gas.
Though we won’t even see a SUGAR Freeze craft in action until 2035, Aviation Week says the excitement revolves around Boeing’s planned use for liquified natural gas. Intended to be burned in a hybrid engine, the LNG propulsion system would connect to a fuel cell and would theoretically be 64% more efficient that current passenger jets.
Considering that planes are responsible for a significant amount of carbon emissions, such technologies would be huge for the environment. Here’s hoping it actually happens. [Aviation Week via Dvice via Engadget]
