Could airports make hydrogen work as a fuel?

On a typical day 1,300 planes take off and land at Heathrow Airport, and keeping that going requires around 20m litres of jet fuel every day. That's the equivalent of filling up your car around 400,000 times. It's a massive operation, with fuel piped to the airport direct from refineries and then stored at two facilities know as fuel farms. "The amount of fuel that passes through Heathrow is enormous. It's about half of the UK's jet fuel requirement," says Matt Prescott, head of carbon strategy at Heathrow. Heathrow Airport itself does not buy and sell fuel, that's down to the airlines and their suppliers. However, it does have to think about the infrastructure, allotting space for storage and pipes, and making sure the airlines and fuel firms have everything they need. "It's really about building up the sufficient capacity to ensure that the airport has that resilience built in," says Prescott. But, when it comes to fuel, airports around the world are having to have a major rethink. In the UK, under the government's Jet Zero plan, by 2040 the UK aviation industry has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions. The US aviation industry plans to reach net zero by 2050. The European Union has a similar goal.<br/>