Aviation

Aircraft emit carbon dioxide and cause the formation of other pollutants such as water and nitrogen oxides that lead to further warming through cloud and tropospheric ozone formation. The prospects are for continued high growth of emissions from aviation, a growth without imminent physical or economic limits that will lead aviation to becoming one of the largest sources of global warming . An added problem is that international aviation is not generally subject to national controls. These features differentiate it from land based sectors.

Barrett has worked on the modelling of emissions from aviation, strategies for controlling emissions, the effects of charges to control emissions, and the possible effects of deregulation on aviation's environmental impacts. These studies show that technology improvements and fuel taxes are effective, but insufficient to control emissions; and that demand management is an essential component of emission control.

The aviation model is called AviAn. It simulates aviation demand and supply over a number of scenario years. AviAn  can be used to look at scenarios of aviation development with different policy options such as demand management, and technical and operational improvements. It also may be used to study the effects of environmental charges or taxes on aviation inputs, such as fuel, or outputs such as global warming effects.

A presentation on aviation and the environment is here.