Dive Brief:
-
Even as new airports around the world get bigger, their designers and builders are making them more sustainable.
-
When it’s completed, the Mexico City airport will have rooftop solar panels and skylights to let in natural daylight, and will include an on-site energy plant that will recycle rainwater. New and renovated airports in China and the UK also were designed with energy-efficiency in mind.
-
“The airport of the future will be less like a sprawling bus depot and more like a large, sustainable park,” noted a CNN.com article.
Dive Insight:
In the U.S., passengers arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport can catch a glimpse of the goats, sheep, llamas and burros that keep the 8,000-acre property’s grass trimmed so the airport can avoid using toxic herbicides. A solar array atop the Denver International Airport generates the amount of electricity it would take to power 500 homes, CNN reported.
The move by a few airports toward sustainability is largely driven by the growing number of planes and passengers: Plunkett Research estimates that both will double by 2033.